Reading Sophia Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by Moony's Mate123
Summary: Another Reading the Books Fic. Alive!Sirius, Fem!Harry/George, Sirius/Remus, Ron/Hermione, Kingsley/Tonks, and Other Pairings. Posting Again!
1. Chapter 1: The Dark Lord Ascending

Sophia had her wand out, her eyes wary as she looked at her surroundings. She found that she was in a room that had nice-looking couches facing a fireplace. She blinked a few times and wasn't sure what she saw or how she could possibly be there. A second before she was talking to her friends - Ginny had just been telling her that she couldn't possibly be possessed by Voldemort (which had her feeling more reassured than she ever thought she would be) and the next second she was there, in the cozy room.

Then there was a blue flash, and she pointed her wand at it instinctively. She didn't lower her wand even though the person who had appeared looked exactly like her best mate. "Who are you?"

"What kind of question is that, Sophia?" the boy asked, sounding annoyed. "Where are we? You just disappeared on us, you have no idea how panicked Hermione was. Merlin, she must be going spare right now."

"Yeah, I reckon she would be," Sophia said, lowering her wand, reassured that this was indeed her best mate. "And I have no idea where we are…"

Another light flashed, causing her to trail off from her sentence. Her other best friend stood before them when it disappeared. "Ron! Sophia! Where did you two g- great I went with you. Do you have any idea what's going on yet?"

"Hermione, it's been less than a minute. How could I possibly know anything?" Sophia rolled her eyes.

"I don't know," Hermione said, looking around the room suspiciously. "But this can't be a good thing. It could be -"

Another flash, and this time a girl with flaming red hair came into view.

"Well, this is just great," the girl groaned.

The flashing light keep coming every thirty seconds or so until the room was full of people. Starting with Fred and followed by George, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, Molly, Arthur - who landed on the couch and winced a little, but other than that looked fine. After that Dumbledore came followed by McGonagall and Snape (several people became agitated at this including Snape himself). Things got even worse when the last person came: Draco Malfoy.

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked, glaring at the blonde boy.

"How should I know, Weasel King?" Draco retorted. "I was brought here just like I assume the rest of you were."

"Indeed, we have to assume that Mr. Malfoy has a reason to be here just as much as the rest of us do," Dumbledore said, giving the blonde a scrutinizing and almost hopeful look.

"Can we discuss what the hell is going on here?" Sirius asked impatiently.

"It seems like the flashing has stopped," Remus observed. "Perhaps it's safe to talk about it now."

"So..." McGonagall started to speak but before she could say anything more another flash did come. A golden light, different from the bluish ones that had revealed everyone. When the light vanished they all noticed a book with a note on it.

"What do you think that is?" Ron asked.

"Oh, I know this one!" Fred said.

"It's a book!" George said.

"Don't forget about the note," Fred added.

"Come on Ronniekins, you must have recognized that," George smirked.

"Shut up," Ron groaned.

"_Dear Sophia, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Sirius, Remus, Kingsley, Tonks, Molly, Arthur (sorry about the fall), Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Draco_." Sirius read. "Merlin, that's a long introduction. I think I would have just said 'Dear everyone.'"

"Will you just keep reading Sirius?" Remus asked.

"Fine," Sirius said and then read;

_I have gathered you all here so you could read this book. It's about your future. I've brought it to you in hopes that you can change things for the better. I know that it is dangerous to try to change the future, even more so because the future is a relatively good place already._

_However, a lot of terrible things are going to happen in the next two and a half years. A lot of good people are going to lose their lives - some of the people in the room among them, and I just want to give you the option to change things._

_Read the book that I've sent you. If you think my reality is worth preserving, you could choose to forget this room and everything that will happen here. However, if you choose to make a difference then you will have gained knowledge from this book. Hopefully, with that knowledge, you could make a better world._

_Best wishes,_

_TKS_

"Who's TKS?" Sirius wondered aloud.

"I don't believe I know of anybody with those initials that would send us something like this," Dumbledore said with a frown. "Then again, if we consider that this book is possibly from the future, it stands to reason that the writer would also be from the future."

"Right," Sirius agreed. "So do you think we should read the book?"

"I don't see how that could hurt," Remus said reasonably.

"Then you don't see very well," Draco sneered. "I don't see why I'm here, and I most definitely don't see why I would want to read any book with any of you."

"Apparently, TKS seems to think that you would have something to gain by reading this book," McGonagall said, looking him over carefully. "And I agree with Remus. We should read the book."

"Thank you, Minerva," Remus said with a slight smile.

"You just called her Minerva," Sirius whispered to his husband, looking shocked.

"Sirius, you know that I was a professor two years ago," Remus rolled his eyes. "Minerva was my colleague."

"It's still weird," Sirius said.

"Well, if we're going to read, then shouldn't we get on with it?" Snape spoke up dryly.

"Very well," Dumbledore said. He was a little wary of reading the book, considering what secrets might be revealed in its pages. "Who would like to read first?"

"I would," Remus and Hermione both said.

"Oh, go ahead Pro- er, Mr. - er...Remus," Hermione stammered, not really sure what to call him. He had made it clear that he didn't want to be called Professor Lupin seeing as he was no longer their professor.

"Ah, you could just call him Moony," Sirius said draping his arm around Remus' shoulder.

"Moony?" the twins said at the same time.

"You don't think?" Fred said looking at George, they had identical flabbergasted expressions.

"It can't be!" George said and then both of them whipped their heads around to look at Sophia, who was torn between looking amused and nervous.

"I told you about that, didn't I?" Sophia asked, fighting back a laugh - something that Ron was finding a lot more difficult, as he was openly guffawing.

"You mean he's _the _Moony?" Fred inquired, looking at Remus, who was now pinching the bridge of his nose. Sirius was standing next to him, grinning like an idiot.

"You're serious? You're really Moony?" George asked looking astounded.

"No, Sirius isn't Moony," Ron said laughing. "Sirius is Padfoot, Moony is Remus."

"Padfoot!" the twins said together.

"Merlin! We get to meet two of the Marauders!" Fred exclaimed.

"This is bloody brilliant!" George said.

"You guys are the best!" Fred said.

"You taught us so much!" George said.

"What are you talking about?" Molly asked sharply, her eyes narrowed at Remus and Sirius. Sirius' smile faltered a little at her look, and Remus sighed.

"That Moony was the best teacher ever, and we really learned a lot from him," George said, trying to cover up for one of his idols.

Molly narrowed her eyes further at her son's flimsy excuse.

"I think we should start reading," Hermione said at the same time as Fred asked eagerly, "So who are the other two Marauders?"

"My dad was one," Sophia answered him. She really should have told the twins about it a long time ago. "He was Prongs."

"Cool! So I guess it was a good thing we -" George started but stopped himself just in time.

"And the last one?" Fred asked, changing the subject for his twin.

"Is a rat!" Sirius snapped; his face dark and his eyes deadly.

"Oh," Fred said. Everyone in the room had heard about what Peter Pettigrew had done; from framing Sirius to killing Cedric. Fred could tell by the expression that Peter was who Sirius was talking about.

"I think you should read, Hermione," Remus cut in. "And if you like, you can call me Moony."

"I think I'll just stick with Remus, if you don't mind," Hermione smiled at him.

"I prefer it actually," Remus smiled back at her.

Hermione took the book and then read, "**Sophia Potter and the Deathly Hallows**."

"I knew I didn't want to read this stupid book," Draco groaned and Snape looked like he agreed with him completely.

However, at the title, Dumbledore's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he controlled himself. He didn't expect this and he wondered how it would all play out. He looked down at his wand, wondering what role it would play in the book...wondering what that would mean for him.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron said through gritted teeth. He was seriously wishing the blonde boy wasn't there.

Hermione just rolled her eyes before she read the title of the chapter, "**The Dark Lord Ascending."**

"What a way to start the book," George said.

"Yeah, I thought we were going to read about the scrawny git," Fred smirked at Sophia.

"Shut up Fred." Sophia said patiently.

**The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane. For a second they stood quite still, wands directed at each other's chests; then, recognizing each other, they stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction.**

"Sounds like Death Eaters to me," Sirius said.

"You don't know that," Remus said reasonably. "We would act the same. Though, given the chapter title, you're probably right."

**"News?" asked the taller of the two.**

**"The best," replied Severus Snape.**

"Definitely Death Eaters," Sirius said, glaring at Snape.

"Sirius," Dumbledore said in an even tone that nevertheless seemed to affect Sirius.

**The lane was bordered on the left by wild, low-growing brambles, on the right by a high, neatly manicured hedge. The men's long cloaks flapped around their ankles as they marched. "Thought I might be late," said Yaxley,**

"Yes, Definitely Death Eaters," Remus said.

**his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as the branches of overhanging trees broke the moonlight. "It was a little trickier than I expected. But I hope he will be satisfied. You sound confident that your reception will be good?" Snape nodded, but did not elaborate. They turned right, into a wide driveway that led off the lane. The high hedge curved into them, running off into the distance beyond the pair of imposing wrought-iron gates barring the men's way. Neither of them broke step: In silence both raised their left arms in a kind of salute and passed straight through, as though the dark metal was smoke.**

"How did you do that?" Remus asked.

"I do not know," Snape said. "It is not something that we have used yet."

**The yew hedges muffled the sound of the men's footsteps. There was a rustle somewhere to their right: Yaxley drew his wand again pointing it over his companion's head, but the source of the noise proved to be nothing more than a pure-white peacock,**

"Oh," Malfoy blinked, surprised.

"What is it?" Ron asked, raising a sarcastic eyebrow.

"I believe that this is Mr. Malfoy's home," Dumbledore said.

"Yeah, it is," Malfoy said, not looking very pleased at the moment. It didn't help that several people in the room were glaring at him.

**strutting majestically along the top of the hedge.**

"I still wonder why James didn't turn into a peacock," Sirius muttered to Remus, who had trouble not laughing out loud.

"One could say the same about you," Remus pointed out, but Sirius just smiled at that.

"**He always did himself well, Lucius. Peacocks**…" **Yaxley thrust his wand back under his cloak with a snort.**

"He really does," Draco said. "I always wonder why he buys them."

"He's just a freak," Sirius said.

Draco rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.

**A handsome manor house grew out of the darkness at the end of the straight drive, lights glinting in the diamond paned downstairs windows. Somewhere in the dark garden beyond the hedge a fountain was playing. Gravel crackled beneath their feet as Snape and Yaxley sped toward the front door, which swung inward at their approach, though nobody had visibly opened it.**

"House elves I'm sure," Sirius said.

"Yeah," Draco confirmed.

"You still have a house elf?" Sophia asked.

"We have more the one house elf, Potter," Draco said coldly, as if Sophia's question had insulted him. "And what kind of question is that anyway?"

"It's just that I freed Dobby. I didn't know -" Sophia started to say.

"_You_ freed that elf!" Draco said incredulous. "Father said he set him free because he was freak of nature! Always talking about what elves should have and whatnot. He said it was a disgrace..."

"But not as much of a disgrace as getting tricked to let the house elf go by a twelve year old, I'm sure," Ron smirked.

Draco shrugged. "It's not really important. Who cares if one elf is missing?"

Hermione seemed to be fuming during this whole conversation, but she didn't say anything. It would be pointless to say anything about elves' rights to Malfoy.

**The hallway was large, dimly lit, and sumptuously decorated, with a magnificent carpet covering most of the stone floor. The eyes of the pale-faced portraits on the wall followed Snape and Yaxley as they strode past. The two men halted at a heavy wooden door leading into the next room, hesitated for the space of a heartbeat, then Snape turned the bronze handle.**

**The drawing room was full of silent people, sitting at a long and ornate table. The room's usual furniture had been pushed carelessly up against the walls. Illumination came from a roaring fire beneath a handsome marble mantelpiece surmounted by a gilded mirror. Snape and Yaxley lingered for a moment on the threshold. As their eyes grew accustomed to the lack of light, they were drawn upward to the strangest feature of the scene: an apparently unconscious human figure hanging upside down over the table, revolving slowly as if suspended by an invisible rope,**

"That's sick," Ginny said, looking pale.

The older people in the room understood that this person, whoever they might be, wasn't going to make it out of the room alive. They were all bowing their heads.

**and reflected in the mirror and in the bare, polished surface of the table below. None of the people seated underneath this singular sight were looking at it except for a pale young man sitting almost directly below it. He seemed unable to prevent himself from glancing upward every minute or so.**

Everyone looked at Draco and he flushed. "It's my house, of course I would be there."

"Not for something like this," Snape muttered and he shared a look with Dumbledore; it seemed like the youngest Malfoy was going to become a Death Eater in the near future.

"**Yaxley. Snape," said a high, clear voice from the head of the table. "You are very nearly late."**

"Oh dear, not nearly late," Sirius said sarcastically. "How dare you do that?"

"This is no joking matter, Black," Snape said, looking a little pale at the thought.

"You can't even _be _nearly late," Sirius scoffed. "That's ridiculous."

**The speaker was seated directly in front of the fireplace, so that it was difficult, at first, for the new arrivals to make out more than his silhouette. As they drew nearer, however, his face shone through the gloom, hairless, snakelike, with slits for nostrils and gleaming red eyes whose pupils were vertical. He was so pale that he seemed to emit a pearly glow.**

"What an attractive bloke he is," Fred joked.

"Yeah, I wish I could look that good," George said.

"What are you talking about?" Fred smirked. "You look like me. And I'm perfect."

"**Severus, here," said Voldemort, indicating the seat on his immediate right.**

"You're his right hand man!" Sirius exclaimed, astounded.

"I... I..." Severus said, stunned.

"I take it that's not how it is now," Remus said. "I wonder what you did to get that."

"Whatever it is, it would have to be important," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. He knew that Voldemort trusted Severus, but he never expected it would be that much.

"**Yaxley – beside Dolohov."**

Molly's expression darkened at the mention of the wizard that killed her brothers. But it was worse than just that - something was wrong if he was there. "He should be in Azkaban!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, he should be," Dumbledore frowned. "It seems that at some point, there will be a breakout."

**The two men took their allotted places. Most of the eyes around the table followed Snape, and it was to him that Voldemort spoke first.**

"**So?"**

"**My Lord, the Order of the Phoenix intends to move Sophia Potter from her current place of safety on Saturday next, at nightfall."**

Everyone's eyes found Snape, who looked back at them coldly.

"Severus is a spy for the Order," Dumbledore said to the room at large. "A spy that is known to be close to me. To keep his position a secret he often has to give out information like this. However, if this is true, we can be sure that the information he is giving out is the least of all the evils he has to choose from."

"That doesn't sound stupid at all," Sirius said sarcastically. "Giving the other side information is a fantastic idea."

"And that is why you would never be a good spy, Black, you have such a limited mind," Severus sneered. "Such little imagination."

"You would be surprised how good my imagination is," Sirius glared.

"Settle down," Dumbledore said firmly and the two black haired men continued to glare at each other but didn't say any more.

**The interest around the table sharpened palpably: Some stiffened; others fidgeted, all gazing at Snape and Voldemort.**

"**Saturday … at nightfall," repeated Voldemort. His red eyes fastened upon Snape's black ones with such intensity that some of the watchers looked away, apparently fearful that they themselves would be scorched by the ferocity of the gaze. Snape, however, looked calmly back into Voldemort's face and, after a moment or two, Voldemort's lipless mouth curved into something like a smile.**

"**Good. Very good. And this information comes –"**

"– **from the source we discussed," said Snape.**

"What source?" Fred asked.

Severus shrugged; that was hardly important.

"**My Lord."**

**Yaxley had leaned forward to look down the long table at Voldemort and Snape. All faces turned to him.**

"**My Lord, I have heard differently."**

**Yaxley waited, but Voldemort did not speak, so he went on, "Dawlish, the Auror, let slip that Potter will not be moved until the thirtieth, the night before the girl turns seventeen."**

"Hm, so this is a year and a half from now," Hermione muttered before she resumed reading.

**Snape was smiling.**

"That's a scary thought." Fred muttered to George, who nodded.

"**My source told me that there are plans to lay a false trail; this must be it. No doubt a Confundus Charm has been placed upon Dawlish. It would not be the first time; he is known to be susceptible."**

"Just the quality I want in an Auror," Sirius groaned.

"**I assure you, my Lord, Dawlish seemed quite certain," said Yaxley.**

"**If he has been Confunded, naturally he is certain," said Snape. "I assure you, Yaxley, the Auror Office will play no further part in the protection of Sophia Potter. The Order believes that we have infiltrated the Ministry."**

"That's not good," McGonagall said. She had tried to stay quiet, not wanting to interrupt, but this was bad enough for her to feel the need to comment. "It seems like things are only going to get worse."

"That's true. However, if the Minister is trying to play a part in protecting Sophia, it's clear that they are no longer denying Voldemort has returned," Dumbledore said. McGonagall, Snape, Draco, and the Weasleys all flinched when he said Voldemort's name.

"I thought that you would have flinched too," Sophia said to Tonks.

"Nah. There's no reason to be afraid of a name," Tonks shrugged. "Besides, I think that Siri would have been annoyed if I didn't show more grit than that."

"You got that right. I would have disowned you if you had flinched," Sirius joked.

"Says the guy that's on the run for being a mass murderer," Tonks rolled her eyes. "Besides, I'm used to been disowned by family. What difference would this make?"

"Fine then, I'll somehow make it so you're back to being related to this little git's family," Sirius said, nodding his head towards Draco.

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked, looking at them in confusion.

"Er…you don't even know who I am, do you?" Tonks sighed.

"No," Draco said indifferently. "You never said your name."

"I'm..." Tonks paused; she never liked saying her first name.

"Nymphadora Tonks," Sirius said, laughing as Tonks glared at him.

Draco looked at them as if to say, _and that's supposed to mean something to me because...?_

"My mother is Andromeda," Tonks said. "She used to be Andromeda Black..."

"Oh," Draco said, he had heard the name once or twice before. That would mean this woman with the strange hair and hyperactive demeanor was actually his cousin. "Right."

"Well, I don't know what I was expecting, but I supposed that wasn't too bad," Tonks chuckled.

"**The Order's got one thing right, then, eh?" said a squat man sitting a short distance from Yaxley; he gave a wheezy giggle that was echoed here and there along the table.**

**Voldemort did not laugh. His gaze had wandered upward to the body revolving slowly overhead, and he seemed to be lost in thought.**

"**My Lord," Yaxley went on, "Dawlish believes an entire party of Aurors will be used to transfer the boy –"**

**Voldemort held up a large white hand, and Yaxley subsided at once, watching resentfully as Voldemort turned back to Snape.**

"**Where are they going to hide the girl next?"**

"**At the home of one of the Order," said Snape. "The place, according to the source, has been given every protection that the Order and Ministry together could provide. I think that there is little chance of taking her once she is there, my Lord, unless, of course, the Ministry has fallen before next Saturday, which might give us the opportunity to discover and undo enough of the enchantments to break through the rest."**

"'The Ministry has fallen'...are they really that close to doing that?" McGonagall asked, shocked. "Albus, this is very bad!"

"It is indeed," Dumbledore said gravely.

"**Well, Yaxley?" Voldemort called down the table, the firelight glinting strangely in his red eyes. "Will the Ministry have fallen by next Saturday?"**

**Once again, all heads turned. Yaxley squared his shoulders.**

"**My Lord, I have good news on that score. I have – with difficulty, and after great effort – succeeded in placing an Imperius Curse upon Pius Thicknesse."**

**Many of those sitting around Yaxley looked impressed; his neighbor, Dolohov, a man with a long, twisted face, clapped him on the back.**

"**It is a start," said Voldemort. "But Thicknesse is only one man. Scrimgeour must be surrounded by our people before I act. One failed attempt on the Minister's life will set me back a long way."**

"So, Scrimgeour will be Minister," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.

"Will he do better than Fudge?" Sophia asked hopefully. She had no love for the current Minister.

"He will certainly be a different type of Minister," Dumbledore said. "I don't know if 'better' is the right word."

"**Yes – my Lord, that is true – but you know, as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Thicknesse has regular contact not only with the Minister himself, but also with the Heads of all the other Ministry departments. It will, I think, be easy now that we have such a high-ranking official under our control, to subjugate the others, and then they can all work together to bring Scrimgeour down."**

"It's a sound plan," Dumbledore sighed, knowing that it would likely work and that it would be a huge blow to the Order's side.

"**As long as our friend Thicknesse is not discovered before he has converted the rest," said Voldemort. "At any rate, it remains unlikely that the Ministry will be mine before next Saturday. If we cannot touch the girl at her destination, then it must be done while he travels."**

"**We are at an advantage there, my Lord," said Yaxley, who seemed determined to receive some portion of approval.**

"I never understood that," Sophia shook her head. "Is his approval really worth all that trouble?"

"That is an interesting question," Dumbledore said. "I suppose it is from their point of view, because the more approval they have, the more power it represents."

"I still don't get it," Sophia said. "But I guess we all know that I wouldn't make a very good Death Eater."

"**We now have several people planted within the Department of Magical Transport. If Potter Apparates or uses the Floo Network, we shall know immediately."**

"I don't like the sound of that," Remus said.

"Nor do I," Dumbledore agreed.

"**She will not do either," said Snape.**

"Shut the hell up!" Sirius growled and Severus looked coldly back at him.

"It is the obvious answer to the problem," Dumbledore said, "and he would look foolish and more importantly incompetent if he didn't know this."

"And that's more important than Sophia's safety?" Sirius wanted to shout, but not even in such a state did he dare raise his voice to Dumbledore.

"I have, and never will, say that, Sirius," Dumbledore said calmly but the look in his eyes was fiery. Sirius flinched but didn't back down. "I merely meant that he must not have a choice but to tell this to Voldemort. I would also think there is a plan we have come up with that would give Sophia a chance to get around this."

"Okay," Sirius said calmly, too, but it was clear he was still upset with Snape.

"**The Order is eschewing any form of transport that is controlled or regulated by the Ministry; they mistrust everything to do with the place."**

"**All the better," said Voldemort. "She will have to move in the open. Easier to take, by far."**

**Again, Voldemort looked up at the slowly revolving body as he went on, "I shall attend to the girl in person. There have been too many mistakes where Sophia Potter is concerned.**

"I wonder if he means more than what has already happened," Sophia mused and everyone else, except for Snape and Draco, flinched (and Dumbledore, but he didn't like hearing this news either).

**Some of them have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors than to her triumphs."**

"That's true," Sophia agreed.

"I think you'll find that it's not, Sophia," Dumbledore said. "Though, it's a good thing that he thinks it is."

"Yeah, that way he'll keep underestimating you," Sirius said, trying to take any plus he could out of having Voldemort after his goddaughter.

**The company around the table watched Voldemort apprehensively, each of them, by his or her expression, afraid that they might be blamed for Sophia Potter's continued existence. Voldemort, however, seemed to be speaking more to himself than to any of them, still addressing the unconscious body above him.**

"**I have been careless, and so have been thwarted by luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best-laid plans. But I know better now. I understand those things that I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Sophia Potter, and I shall be."**

_And you got it wrong again Tom_, Dumbledore thought, _you're just playing more into the Prophecy you never understood. Giving Sophia more safe guards against you._

"That's not good," Sirius said.

"That depends on how you look at it," Tonks said.

"How could Voldemort wanting to kill Sophia be a good thing?" Sirius glared at her.

"It's not," Tonks allowed, but she was glaring back at Sirius. "However, the fact that his Death Eater aren't allowed to kill her now, is."

Sirius flushed. "Point taken."

**At these words, seemingly in response to them, a sudden wail sounded, a terrible, drawn-out cry of misery and pain. Many of those at the table looked downward startled, for the sound had seemed to issue from below their feet.**

"**Wormtail,"**

Sirius and Remus eyes darkened at the mention of their former friend, but they didn't say anything although they tightened their grip on each other's hands. Following their lead, Sophia and Ron didn't say anything either, though they looked almost as angry.

**said Voldemort, with no change in his quiet, thoughtful tone, and without removing his eyes from the revolving body above, "have I not spoken to you about keeping our prisoner quiet?"**

"**Yes, m-my Lord," gasped a small man halfway down the table, who had been sitting so low in his chair that it appeared, at first glance, to be unoccupied. Now he scrambled from his seat and scurried from the room, leaving nothing behind him but a curious gleam of silver.**

"Bloody rat betraying us to be an effing servant," Sirius muttered darkly.

"**As I was saying," continued Voldemort, looking again at the tense faces of his followers, "I understand better now. I shall need, for instance, to borrow a wand from one of you before I go to kill Potter."**

**The faces around him displayed nothing but shock; he might have announced that he wanted to borrow one of their arms.**

"No, it's much worse than that," Snape said. "It would mean that we were not only defenseless, but that we had no use to The Dark Lord. Which isn't exactly a position that anyone there would want to be in."

"**No volunteers?" said Voldemort. "Let's see … Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand anymore."**

Draco paled as the Weasley boys and Sophia sniggered. This wasn't helped at all by Snape's previous explanation about what it meant.

"What happened?" Draco was unable to stop himself from asking. He didn't know what was going on with Voldemort, but he knew that his dad was on good terms with him. At the very least he knew his dad wouldn't be dismissed like this.

"I don't know," Snape said, trying to give him an apologetic look, one that only a Slytherin could read, but Draco was glaring at him.

**Lucius Malfoy looked up. His skin appeared yellowish and waxy in the firelight, and his eyes were sunken and shadowed. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.**

"What happened?" Draco asked again, this time more concerned than before.

"It sounds like good old –" Sirius started to say before Tonks slapped his arm. He glared at her but when he talked again it was in a slightly nicer tone. "Your dad was in Azkaban."

Draco eyes went wide for a second before he controlled his expression; it would not do to show weakness in a room full of his enemies.

"**My Lord?"**

"**Your wand, Lucius. I require your wand."**

"**I …"**

**Malfoy glanced sideways at his wife. She was staring straight ahead, quite as pale as he was, her long blonde hair hanging down her back, but beneath the table her slim fingers closed briefly on his wrist. At her touch, Malfoy put his hand into his robes, withdrew a wand, and passed it along to Voldemort, who held it up in front of his red eyes, examining it closely.**

Draco was shuddering inwardly at this description of his dad and the weakness he was showing.

"**What is it?"**

"**Elm, my Lord," whispered Malfoy.**

"**And the core?"**

"**Dragon – dragon heartstring."**

"**Good," said Voldemort. He drew out his wand and compared the lengths. Lucius Malfoy made an involuntary movement; for a fraction of a second, it seemed he expected to receive Voldemort's wand in exchange for his own.**

"Not good," Sirius said, smirking.

"No, it's not," Snape agreed, paling slightly.

**The gesture was not missed by Voldemort, whose eyes widened maliciously.**

"**Give you my wand, Lucius? My wand?"**

**Some of the throng sniggered.**

"**I have given you your liberty, Lucius, is that not enough for you? But I have noticed that you and your family seem less than happy of late … What is it about my presence in your home that displaces you, Lucius?"**

The Weasley boys were sniggering again and Draco was showing no outward signs that this was bothering him, but of course it was.

"Stop that," Hermione said, glaring at the Weasleys.

"I don't -" Draco started to say.

"Trust me, you don't want to finish that sentence," Sophia said firmly, knowing that he was probably going to say something about Hermione.

"And what makes you think that I would listen to anything you have to say, Potter?" Draco sneered, but he did take Sophia's advice to heart; a comment like that would not go over well in this room.

"That's enough, Malfoy, Potter," McGonagall said. "I know we are not at school, but I still will not tolerate behavior like this."

"Sorry Professor," Sophia said.

"So I guess we know why McGonagall is here now," Fred said.

"To keep things from getting out of hand," George chuckled.

"**Nothing – nothing, my Lord!"**

"**Such lies Lucius …"**

**The soft voice seemed to hiss on even after the cruel mouth had stopped moving. One or two of the wizards barely repressed a shudder as the hissing grew louder; something heavy could be heard sliding across the floor beneath the table.**

**The huge snake emerged to climb slowly up Voldemort's chair.**

Arthur shivered at that. He couldn't help it; it was only a few days ago that the snake had attacked him. Molly wanted to glare and sob at the mention of the snake and the rest of the Weasleys (and Sophia too) had a similar response.

**It rose, seemingly endlessly, and came to rest across Voldemort's shoulders: its neck the thickness of a man's thigh; its eyes, with their vertical slits for pupils, unblinking. Voldemort stroked the creature absently with long thin fingers, still looking at Lucius Malfoy.**

"**Why do the Malfoys look so unhappy with their lot? Is my return, my rise to power, not the very thing they professed to desire for so many years?"**

"**Of course, my Lord," said Lucius Malfoy. His hand shook as he wiped sweat from his upper lip. "We did desire it – we do."**

**To Malfoy's left, his wife made an odd, stiff nod, her eyes averted from Voldemort and the snake. To his right, his son, Draco, who had been gazing up at the inert body overhead, glanced quickly at Voldemort and away again, terrified to make eye contact.**

"What, is little Drakey afraid?" Fred mocked.

"I would like to see how you act in his presence," Draco said coldly.

"He'd probably tell a joke," George said firmly, and neither twin showed how much they feared that idea. They wouldn't back down from the little twerp.

However, Molly moaned at that and Arthur painfully wrapped his arm around her.

"**My Lord," said a dark woman halfway down the table, her voice constricted with emotion, "it is an honor to have you here, in our family's house. There can be no higher pleasure."**

"No!" Sirius groaned, looking pale.

"It can't be!" Tonks said, with a similar expression.

"What? Who is it?" Sophia asked.

"I believe it is Bellatrix Lestrange," Dumbledore said.

"The one that..." Sophia asked, remembering the memory she had seen almost a year ago.

"Yes," Dumbledore said, but noticed that the Weasleys children and Hermione still didn't understand what was going on here and why it was so bad that this woman was out of Azkaban. He only allowed himself a second to be pleased with Sophia for keeping her word (though he had no doubt the she would) and not tell her friends what she had learned that day. However, that meant he himself would have to explain it to them.

"Sophia, how do you know her?" Hermione questioned.

"Er..." Sophia said, glancing at Dumbledore, not sure what to do.

So, Dumbledore told them what Sophia had seen when she went into Dumbledore's pensieve. Hermione and the younger Weasleys were all shocked and horrified to hear about it.

"He never said anything," Hermione sighed, thinking about her shy and quiet friend that tried so hard (and over the last few months had shown great improvement thanks to the DA).

"I could understand that," Sophia said. "I wouldn't want anyone to know about my past either."

"The only problem with that is that everyone knows more about your past than you do," Fred said, trying to lighten the mood a little.

**She sat beside her sister, as unlike her in looks, with her dark hair and heavily lidded eyes, as she was in bearing and demeanor; where Narcissa sat rigid and impassive, Bellatrix leaned toward Voldemort, for mere words could not demonstrate her longing for closeness.**

"Ergh, that's disgusting," Sirius said and everyone seemed to agree with him.

"**No higher pleasure," repeated Voldemort, his head tilted a little to one side as he considered Bellatrix. "That means a great deal, Bellatrix, from you."**

**Her face flooded with color; her eyes welled with tears of delight.**

"What an effing weirdo," Sirius said. "You can see why I don't want to be associated with that family anymore."

"I'm in total agreement with you there," Tonks said.

"**My Lord knows I speak nothing but the truth!"**

"**No higher pleasure … even compared with the happy event that, I hear, has taken place in your family this week?"**

**She stared at him, her lips parted, evidently confused.**

"**I don't know what you mean, my Lord."**

"**I'm talking about your niece, Bellatrix. And yours, Lucius and Narcissa. She has just married the Auror, Kingsley Shackelbot.**

"YES!" Tonks shouted

Kingsley just smiled and took her hand.

Hermione started reading again, smiling briefly at the two of them.

**You must be so proud."**

**There was an eruption of jeering laughter from around the table. Many leaned forward to exchange gleeful looks; a few thumped the table with their fists. The giant snake, disliking the disturbance, opened its mouth wide and hissed angrily, but the Death Eaters did not hear it, so jubilant were they at Bellatrix and the Malfoys' humiliation. Bellatrix's face, so recently flushed with happiness, had turned an ugly, blotchy red.**

"**She is no niece of ours, my Lord," she cried over the outpouring of mirth. "We – Narcissa and I – have never set eyes on our sister since she married the Mudblood. This brat has nothing to do with either of us, nor anyone she marries."**

"Same to you, Aunty," Tonks said.

"**What say you, Draco?" asked Voldemort, and though his voice was quiet, it carried clearly through the catcalls and jeers. "Will you babysit the little ones?"**

Tonks was thoughtful, almost pleased about the possibility while Kingsley just chuckled at the look on his partner's face.

**The hilarity mounted; Draco Malfoy looked in terror at his father, who was staring down into his own lap, then caught his mother's eye. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, then resumed her own deadpan stare at the opposite wall.**

"**Enough," said Voldemort, stroking the angry snake. "Enough."**

**And the laughter died at once.**

"**Many of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time," he said as Bellatrix gazed at him, breathless and imploring, "You must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest."**

"You stay the hell away from my family!" Sirius yelled. "I won't let you hurt any of them!"

"**Yes, my Lord," whispered Bellatrix, and her eyes swam with tears of gratitude again. "At the first chance!"**

"**You shall have it," said Voldemort. "And in your family, so in the world … we shall cut away the canker that infects us until only those of the true blood remain …"**

"So, I guess that means we have to cut him away too," Sophia said.

"What do you mean?" Draco said.

"Don't you know that your precious leader is a half-blood," Ron sneered.

Draco hadn't known that, and it showed on his face though he recovered quickly.

**Voldemort raised Lucius Malfoy's wand, pointed it directly at the slowly revolving figure suspended over the table, and gave it a tiny flick. The figure came to life with a groan and began to struggle against invisible bonds.**

"**Do you recognize our guest, Severus?" asked Voldemort.**

**Snape raised his eyes to the upside down face. All of the Death Eaters were looking up at the captive now, as though they had been given permission to show curiosity. As she revolved to face the firelight, the woman said in a cracked and terrified voice, "Severus! Help me!"**

Everyone shivered.

"He could not help her," Dumbledore said gravely, foreseeing that Sirius was going to react badly to this. "It is too late for anyone to help her."

"**Ah, yes," said Snape as the prisoner turned slowly away again.**

"**And you, Draco?" asked Voldemort, stroking the snake's snout with his wand-free hand. Draco shook his head jerkily. Now that the woman had woken, he seemed unable to look at her anymore.**

"**But you would not have taken her classes," said Voldemort. "For those of you who do not know, we are joined here tonight by Charity Burbage who,**

Hermione read the name and gasped. She only had one year with Professor Burbage, but she had liked her a lot.

"No!" McGonagall groaned. Dumbledore bowed his head.

"She doesn't deserve this," Sirius said, shaking. Remus placed a comforting hand on his back. He had known her before he was imprisoned and she was a good person. It was always good people that had to die like this.

**until recently, taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."**

**There were small noises of comprehension around the table. A broad, hunched woman with pointed teeth cackled.**

"**Yes … Professor Burbage taught the children of witches and wizards all about Muggles … how they are not so different from us …"**

**One of the Death Eaters spat on the floor. Charity Burbage revolved to face Snape again.**

Snape paled at this; he hated this part of his job more than anything else. It only made it harder that this time it was someone that he had come to respect (a little) over the years.

"**Severus … please … please …"**

"**Silence," said Voldemort, with another twitch of Malfoy's wand, and Charity fell silent as if gagged. "Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of Wizarding children, last week Professor Burbage wrote an impassioned defense of Mudbloods in the Daily Prophet. Wizards, she says, must accept these thieves of their knowledge and magic. The dwindling of the purebloods is, says Professor Burbage, a most desirable circumstance … She would have us all mate with Muggles … or, no doubt, werewolves …"**

"Well, there's nothing wrong with either of those options!" Sirius shouted taking Remus' hand in his own.

**Nobody laughed this time. There was no mistaking the anger and contempt in Voldemort's voice. For the third time, Charity Burbage revolved to face Snape. Tears were pouring from her eyes into her hair. Snape looked back at her, quite impassive, as she turned slowly away from him again.**

"How could you just sit there like that?" Sirius asked him.

"I told you, Sirius, he has no choice," Dumbledore answered for Snape.

"But _impassively_, like it doesn't bother him at all. Haven't you worked with Charity for years? Don't you have a heart at all?" Sirius shouted.

"Just because I sit there 'impassively' doesn't mean I don't feel," Snape said in a cold tone, his anger obvious in his voice. "It does not do well for me to wear my heart on my sleeve like you seem to do."

"Heart, my arse. You're just trying to save your own skin," Sirius said. "You've worked it out so no matter who wins this bloody war you'll come out on top."

Snape just looked at him, not sure what to say. In a sense it was true - that is if he was never discovered to actually be on Dumbledore's side…a possibility that he thought was unrealistic.

However, the sentence had made him seem like a sniveling coward, and he was anything but. He risked his life every time he came into Voldemort's presence. He had to constantly keep his shields up so Voldemort could never read his mind.

He glared at the man before him that didn't have to face anything like this, who would never know all that he has done to try to keep Sophia, a girl he could hardly stand, alive. All that for a friend that was long gone...even before she had died.

"Think what you will, Black," Snape shrugged indifferently.

"**Avada Kedavra."**

**The flash of green light illuminated every corner of the room. Charity fell, with a resounding crash, onto the table below, which trembled and creaked. Several of the Death Eaters leapt back in their chairs. Draco fell out of his onto the floor.**

"**Dinner, Nagini," said Voldemort softly, and the great snake swayed and slithered from his shoulders onto the polished wood.**

"That was the end of the chapter," Hermione said sadly; she didn't really like that chapter much (except for the Kingsley and Tonks part, of course).

"I think I'll read next, if that's okay," Remus said and no one objected, so he took the book from Hermione.

However, before he could even read the title there was another flash and Bill was standing in the room looking wary until he noticed everyone else.

"What's -?" He started to ask when there was another flash and to everyone's surprise a beautiful woman with silvery blonde hair was there too.

"Fleur?" Sophia said shocked; she really didn't expect that one.

"Sophia?" Fleur said looking troubled, but pleased to see the girl who had become her friend and saved her sister.

"Don't tell me the ruddy pumpkin head is going to show up next!" Ron grumbled.

"Ronald, don't call him that!" Hermione hissed at him, totally missing that Charlie had shown up, too. He went immediately to his father, who he had been concerned about but wasn't able to see because he was in Romania.

"How do you know who I'm talking about, Hermione?" Ron asked, looking smug.

She just glared at him until he backed off.

"Sorry," Ron said. "It's just; I can handle anyone coming here, but that g...Krum."

At that moment one more person showed up, and Ron almost wished he hadn't just said that because he really thought this person might be worse than Krum. It was his older brother...the one that had walked away from his family for the bloody Ministry; the one that had told him to stop being friends with Sophia because she was 'unstable'. Yes, Percy Weasley was now in the room full of the family he had turned his back on. As you could imagine, he did not receive a warm welcome.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Ron and the twins yelled.

"I think they're angrier about him being here than they were about me," Draco muttered to no one in particular.

Percy didn't say anything, not wanting to admit he had no idea how he got there. Nor did he want to admit that he had missed his family, no matter how much he had always felt like an outsider. He was looking at his father, of course trying to look like he wasn't, to see if he was alright. He had heard of the attack that threatened his father's life, but his pride had kept him from visiting.

"I believe he is here for the same reason we all are," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Which is?" Ginny asked coldly, her glaze shifting from Percy to Fleur, not liking that either one of them was there.

"I'm sure we will found out soon enough." No sooner had Dumbledore said that when another flash appeared and a note was on the table. Dumbledore picked it up and read;

_Dear Everyone,_

"See, now wasn't that a lot easier?" Sirius grinned.

_I know you must be wondering why I have brought these new people here. Well, too bad, I'm not going to tell you._

"Argh," Snape groaned.

"I think I like this guy," Sirius chuckled.

_But I _will_ tell you the reason that they weren't here in the beginning. I needed to know the exact location everyone was in during your time to be able to send them to the room you're in right now. Yes, I knew where most of you were, having mostly asked your future selves about it. I had to wait for the others because they were working and it would not have gone well if they had vanished from such a public place. There will be no extra people from here on out, and please, try not to kill each other._

_TKS_

"Well, that was certainly informative. You can read now, Moony," Sirius said.

"That wasn't really informative at all," Remus rolled his eyes, but did as his husband asked anyway. It was the best way to break the tension.


	2. Chapter 2: In Memoriam

**Disclaimer: Don't Own Harry Potter.**

* * *

"**In Memoriam,"** Remus read.

"So you mean, we're not even going to ask why this people are here." Ginny said, making it clear who she meant by 'these people'.

"Nope," Remus said, and she supposed she didn't really need an answer to her most pressing question, because Fleur was sitting very close to her eldest brother. Noticing that every male in the room (except Dumbledore, Arthur, Kingsley, Sirius, and Remus) was looking at her didn't really endear the blonde hair girl to her. She shared a glance with Hermione and knew her bushy haired friend felt the same as she did.

"What do they mean Memoriam?" Arthur asked softly but everyone heard him.

"I'm sure we will found out," Remus sighed.

**Sophia was bleeding.**

"Oh what is it this time," Ron asked sharply, before his mum could even fret over her.

"I don't know." Sophia shrugged, and most of the boys were sniggering at that.

**Clutching her right hand in her left and swearing under her breath,**

"You really shouldn't swear dear," Molly reprimanded softly.

"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Sophia said sheepishly.

**she shouldered open her bedroom door. There was a crunch of breaking china. She had trodden on a cup of cold tea that had been sitting on the floor outside her bedroom door.**

"Er... what's that about?" Fred asked.

"I don't know," Sophia repeated.

"Do you know anything?" George and Draco both inquired.

"Shut up Malfoy!" George said.

"You said the same thing," Draco said rolling his eyes.

"I said shut it!" George said.

**"What the -?"**

**She looked around, the landing of number four, Privet Drive, was deserted. Possibly the cup of tea was Dudley's idea of a clever booby trap.**

"Well that's too clever for me," Sirius said.

"So you admit you're an idiot," Snape snarled.

**Keeping her bleeding hand elevated,**

Molly nodded, that was exactly what she should do.

**Sophia scraped the fragments of cup together with the other hand and threw them into the already crammed bin just visible inside her bedroom door. Then she tramped across to the bathroom to run her finger under the tap.**

**It was stupid, pointless, irritating beyond belief that she still had four days left of being unable to perform magic…**

"Those last few day really do get irritating," Percy said, being one of the few people that had turn of age outside of Hogwarts were this issue would be relevant (the other being Sophia of course, and Ginny would hasn't had to go through this yet). However, he wished he hadn't spoken because his siblings were all glaring at him (thought Bill's look was more of a stare than glare).

**but she had to admit to herself that this jagged cut in her finger would have defeated her.**

"Can you imagine that," Fred chortled.

"The Girl-Who-Lived defeated by jagged cut on finger," George snorted.

**She had never learned how to repair wounds, and now she came to think of it – particularly in light of her immediate plans –**

"What are you immediate plans?" Molly asked, narrowing her eyes.

Sophia shrugged, hoping that it wasn't something that was going to get her into trouble.

**this seemed a serious flaw in her ****magical education.**

"It is indeed a flaw, but unfortunately healing spells are rather advanced and even dangerous if performed incorrectly, Potter," McGonagall said.

**Making a mental note to ask Hermione how it was done,**

"Of course... when in doubt, turn to Hermione," Sophia teased.

Everyone snorted at that as Hermione blushed slightly, though she looked pleased too.

**she used a large wad of toilet paper to mop up as much of the tea as she could before returning to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her.**

**Sophia had spent the morning completely emptying her school trunk for the first time since she had packed it six years ago. At the start of the intervening school years, she had merely skimmed off the topmost three quarters of the contents and replaced or updated them, leaving a layer of general debris at the bottom –**

"You are so lazy," Hermione said rolling her eyes.

Sophia did the mature thing and stuck out her tongue.

**old quills, desiccated beetle eyes, single socks that no longer fit. Minutes previously, Sophia had plunged her hand into this mulch, experienced a stabbing pain in the fourth finger of her right hand, and withdrawn it to see a lot of blood.**

**She now proceeded a little more cautiously. Kneeling down beside the trunk again, she groped around in the bottom and, after retrieving an old badge that flickered feebly between SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY and POTTER STINKS,**

"Why would you keep one of those?" Ron scoffed and Draco said laughing. The boys glared at each other after that.

"It reminded me of Cedric," Sophia said softly making some throw pitying looks at her which she ignored.

**a cracked and worn-out Sneakoscope, and a gold locket inside which a note signed R.A.B. had been hidden,**

"Er... what?" Sophia questioned.

"I guess that means that something new that you'll pick up," Hermione said reasonably.

"I wonder who this R.A.B guy is," Sirius frowned, his mind immediately going to his brother but he shook that idea off.

**she finally discovered the sharp edge that had done the damage. She recognized it at once. It was a two-inch-long fragment of the enchanted mirror**

"Oh, I remember that," Sirius smiled. "Me and James use to use that all the time when we... er... never mind," he trailed off as he looked at McGonagall and the glare she was now giving him. "But why is it fragment? Did you break it?"

"Sirius, I don't even have this mirror yet," Sophia said. "How should I know if I broke it or not?"

"**that her godfather, Sirius** **had given her. Sophia laid it aside and felt cautiously around the trunk for the rest, but nothing more remained of her godfather's gift except powdered glass, which clung to the deepest layer of debris like glittering grit.**

**Sophia sat up and examined the jagged piece on which she had cut herself, seeing nothing but her own bright green eye reflected back at her. Then she placed the fragment on top of that morning's Daily prophet, which lay unread on the bed, and attacked the rest of the rubbish in the trunk.**

**It took another hour to empty it completely, throw away the useless items, and sort ****the remainder in piles according to whether or not she would need them from now on. Her school and Quidditch robes, cauldron, parchment, quills, and most of her textbooks were piled in a corner, to be left behind.**

"Left behind?" Molly shouted. "What do you mean left behind?"

"I don't know," Sophia muttered trying to avoid looking at her.

**She wondered what her aunt and uncle would do with them; burn them in the dead of night, probably, as if they were evidence of some dreadful crime. Her Muggle clothing, Invisibility Cloak, potion-making kit, certain books, the photograph album Hagrid had once given her, a stack of letters, and her wand had been repacked into an old rucksack. In a front pocket were the Marauder's Map and the locket with the note signed R.A.B. inside it. The locket was accorded this place of honor not because it was valuable – in all usual senses it was worthless – but because of what it had cost to attain it.**

"If it's worthless, then how much could it have cost," Draco rolled his eyes.

**This left a sizable stack of newspapers sitting on her desk beside her snowy owl, Hedwig: one for each of the days Sophia had spent at Privet Drive this summer.**

**She got up off the floor, stretched, and moved across to her desk. Hedwig made no movement as she began to flick through newspapers, throwing them into the rubbish pile one by one. The owl was asleep or else faking; she was angry with Sophia about the limited amount of time she was allowed out of her cage at the moment.**

Sophia chuckled at Hedwig's behavior.

**As she neared the bottom of the pile of newspapers, Sophia slowed down, searching for one particular issue that she knew had arrived shortly after she had returned to Privet Drive for the summer; she remembered that there had been a small mention on the front about the resignation of Charity Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts.**

"She didn't resign," Hermione muttered angrily.

**At last she found it. Turning to page ten, she sank into her desk chair and reread the article she had been looking for.**

**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE REMEMBERED**

"What?" Several people said.

"Does that mean..." Sirius started to say.

"That I'm dead, I believe so," Dumbledore frowned.

"That's impossible," several of the Weasley boys said.

"You're Dumbledore," Sirius echoed their thoughts. "You can't die!"

"I'm just a man like anyone else, Sirius," Dumbledore smiled. "I assure that I can die."

Snape folded his arms at this and turned away from everyone else. Dumbledore, the man that he had come to respect so much in the last fourteen years... that was the only person that he could really be himself without having to hold anything back... he was dead.

McGonagall sagged in the chair that she was sitting in, thinking about her friend of more than thirty-nine years dying. Hogwarts would never be the same without him there. Molly put her arms around her, as the both shed tears for the old man.

Sophia was looking down, how many more people that she cared about were going to die? Was this her future, to lose everyone she loved?

Hermione took her hand and Ron put his hand on her shoulder. Neither of her friends were looking at her, and they both looked pained by the news, but all she could feel was the warmth their actions had given her. They were always there for her when she needed it. She didn't know what she would do without them and she never wanted to find out.

**By Elphias Doge**

**I met Albus Dumbledore at the age of eleven,**

"You were eleven?" Sirius questioned in a tone that was so ridiculously innocent that it caused most people to chuckle even though no one felt much like doing that at the moment.

"Of course I was eleven," Dumbledore smiled at him. "As I just reminded you, I am human."

"Right," Sirius smiled sheepishly. "It's just hard to picture you as being young."

"Why thank you Sirius," Dumbledore said, there were a few people that were even laughing now.

**on our first day at Hogwarts. Our mutual attraction was undoubtedly due to the fact that we both felt ourselves to be outsiders. I had contracted dragon pox shortly before arriving at school, and while I was no longer contagious, my pock-marked visage and greenish hue did not encourage many to approach me. For his part, Albus had arrived at Hogwarts under the burden of unwanted notoriety. Scarcely a year previously, his father, Percival, had been convicted of a savage and well-publicized attack upon three young Muggles.**

"Really?" Hermione said looking at her Headmaster a little shocked, but Dumbledore expression was so sad and thoughtful that it was hard to look at him.

**Albus never attempted to deny that his father (who was to die in Azkaban) had committed this crime; on the contrary, when I plucked up courage to ask him, he assured me that he knew his father to be guilty. Beyond that, Dumbledore refused to speak of the sad business, though many attempted to make him do so. Some, indeed, were disposed to praise his father's action and assumed that Albus too was a Muggle-hater.**

Draco looked thoughtfully at Dumbledore at that, he was unaware that he had shared this much in common with his headmaster.

**They could not have been more mistaken:**

And that's where their similarities ended, though he had never hated Muggles as much as he seemed to, he did find them rather useless.

**As anybody who knew Albus would attest, he never revealed the remotest anti-Muggle tendency. Indeed, his determined support for Muggle rights gained him many enemies in subsequent years.**

**In a matter of months, however, Albus' own fame had begun to eclipse that of his father. By the end of his first year he would never again be known as the son of a Muggle-hater, but as nothing more or less than the most brilliant student ever seen at the school. Those of us who were privileged to be his friends benefited from his example, not to mention his help and encouragement, with which he was always generous. He confessed to me later in life that he knew even then that his greatest pleasure lay in teaching.**

"Really sir, I would think you could do anything you wanted," Sirius said.

"I enjoy teaching young students and watching them evolve throughout their years here," Dumbledore smiled, that really was his favorite part of the job.

**He not only won every prize of note that the school offered, he was soon in regular correspondence with the most notable magical names of the day, including Nicolas Flamel, the celebrated alchemist; Bathilda Bagshot, the noted historian; and Adalbert Waffling, the magical theoretician. Several of his papers found their way into learned publications such as Transfiguration Today, Challenges in Charming, and The Practical Potioneer. Dumbledore's future career seemed likely to be meteoric, and the only question that remained was when he would become Minister ****of Magic. Though it was often predicted in later years that he was on the point of taking the job, however, he never had Ministerial ambitions.**

"Why not, I bet you would have been better than Fudge?" Sophia said.

"You never know something like that until it happens," Dumbledore said. "I'm not sure I would have made a good Minister."

**Three years after we had started at Hogwarts, Albus' brother, Aberforth, arrived at school. They were not alike: Aberforth was never bookish and, unlike Albus, preferred to settle arguments by ****dueling rather than through reasoned discussion. However, it is quite wrong to suggest, as some have, that the brothers were not friends. They rubbed along as comfortably as two such different boys could do.**

Percy could relate to what Dumbledore must have been going through, he never could relate well with his siblings. He shifted uncomfortably as most of his family gave him a look.

**In fairness to Aberforth, it must be admitted that living in Albus' shadow cannot have been an altogether comfortable experience. Being continually outshone was an occupational hazard of being his friend and cannot have been any more pleasurable as a brother.**

Ron grimaced at this, he could relate to Aberforth with that. His brothers constantly outshone him and his best friend was effing Sophia Potter. Then there was Hermione who was known as the most brilliant witch of the age.

**When Albus and I left Hogwarts we intended to take the then-traditional tour of the world together, visiting and observing foreign wizards, before pursuing our separate careers. However, tragedy intervened. On the very eve of our trip, Albus' mother, Kendra, died, leaving Albus the head, and sole breadwinner, of the family. I postponed my departure long enough to pay my respects at Kendra's funeral, then left for what was now to be a solitary journey. With a younger brother and sister to care for, and little gold left to them, there could no longer be any question of Albus accompanying me.**

Dumbledore grimaced at this, if he had gone on that trip so many things in his past could have been avoided...

**That was the period of our lives when we had least contact. I wrote to Albus, describing, perhaps insensitively, the wonders of my journey, from narrow escapes from chimaeras in Greece to the experiments of the Egyptian alchemists. His letters told me little of his day-to-day life, which I guessed to be frustratingly dull for such a brilliant wizard. Immersed in my own experiences, it was with horror that I heard, toward the end of my year's travels, that another tragedy had struck the ****Dumbledore's: the death of his sister, Ariana.**

The woman in the room all looked at Dumbledore sadly at this, but he wasn't really paying much attention to this, his mind was lost in the past... in his grief, at the moment.

**Though Ariana had been in poor health for a long time, the blow, coming so soon after the loss of their mother, had a profound effect on both of her brothers. All those closest to Albus – and I count myself one of that lucky number – agree that Ariana's death, and Albus' feeling of personal responsibility for it (though, of course, he was guiltless), left their mark upon him forevermore.**

Dumbledore didn't make any signs that that sentence affected him, but inwardly he felt like he was stabbed by a knife... it was his fault... all his fault.

**I returned home to find a young man who had experienced a much older person's suffering.**

Sophia was now the one that could relate to Dumbledore.

**Albus was more reserved than before, and much less light-hearted. To add to his misery, the loss of Ariana had led, not to a renewed closeness between Albus and Aberforth, but to an estrangement. (In time this would lift – in later years they reestablished, if not a close relationship, then certainly a cordial one.) However, he rarely spoke of his parents or of Ariana from then on, and his friends learned not to mention them.**

**Other quills will describe the triumphs of the following years. Dumbledore's innumerable contributions to the store of Wizarding knowledge, including his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, will benefit generations to come, as will the wisdom he displayed in the many judgments while Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. They say, still, that no Wizarding duel ever matched that between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in 1945.**

This was another hard thing for Dumbledore to hear, but he didn't react to it in the least.

**Those who witnessed it have written of the terror and the awe they felt as they watched these two extraordinary wizards to battle. Dumbledore's triumph, and its consequences for the Wizarding world, are considered a turning point in magical history to match the introduction of the International Statute of Secrecy or the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.**

**Albus Dumbledore was never proud or vain; he could find something to value in anyone, however apparently insignificant or wretched, and I believe that his early losses endowed him with great humanity and sympathy. I shall miss his friendship more than I can say, but my loss is nothing compared to the Wizarding World's.****That he was the most inspiring and best loved of all Hogwarts headmasters cannot be in question. He died as he lived: working always for the greater good and,**

Dumbledore cringed inwardly at the use of that phrase.

**to his last hour, as willing to stretch out a hand to a small boy with dragon pox as he was on the day I met him.**

**Sophia finished reading, but continued to gaze at the picture accompanying the obituary. Dumbledore was wearing his familiar, kindly smile, but as he peered over the top of his half-moon spectacles, he gave the impression, even in newsprint, of X-raying Sophia,**

"I get the same feeling when he looks at me," Sirius said, trying to break the tension that had built in the room. "It's bloody creepy."

No one so much as smiled at that.

**whose sadness mingled with a sense of humiliation.**

**She had thought she knew Dumbledore quite well, but ever since reading this obituary she had been forced to recognize that she had barely known him at all. Never once had she imagined Dumbledore's childhood or youth; it was as though he had sprung into being as Sophia had known him, venerable and silver-haired and old.**

"Ha... I told you it was a weird image," Sirius and this time a few people gave him a weak smile.

Remus smiled at his husband and wrapped one arm around him while holding up the book with the other.

**The idea of a teenage Dumbledore was simply odd, like trying to imagine a stupid Hermione or a friendly Blast-Ended Skrewt.**

Some people chuckled at that weakly, especially the ones that knew what a Blast-Ended Skrewt was.

"What is a Blast-Ended Skrewt?" Fleur asked, she had always pride herself in knowing magical creatures, but she didn't know this one.

"Er... they're something that Hagrid had bred," Sophia answered. "There was on in the maze..." she trailed off there, reminded of other person that had died around her.

"Oh," Fleur shivered, knowing exactly what creature Sophia was talking about now. Her mind, too, had gone to Cedric and she grimaced.

**She had never thought to ask Dumbledore about his past. No doubt it would have felt strange, impertinent even, but after all it had been common knowledge that Dumbledore had taken part in that legendary duel with Grindelwald, and Sophia ****had not thought to ask Dumbledore what that had been like, nor about any of his other famous achievements.**

"I do not particularly like talking about such things," Dumbledore said, mostly thinking about the fight with Grindelwald... his one-time friend and bitter reminder of the most painful time of his life.

Sophia nodded at him, not missing the look of sadness that was in his eyes, and Remus, noticing that too, decided to read again.

**No, they had always discussed Sophia, Sophia's past, Sophia's future, Sophia's plans… and it seemed to Sophia now, despite the fact that her future was so dangerous and so uncertain, that she had missed irreplaceable opportunities when she had failed to ask Dumbledore more about himself, even though the only personal question she had ever asked the headmaster was also the only one she suspected that Dumbledore had not answered honestly:**

**"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"**

**"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."**

"Er... what's that about?" Sirius asked but didn't get an answer.

**After several minutes' thought, Sophia tore the obituary out of the Prophet, folded it carefully, and tucked it inside the first volume of Practical Defensive Magic and its Use against the Dark Arts.**

"That sounds like an interesting book... where did you get it from?" Hermione said. "Maybe this means we'll get another good Defense professor."

"She didn't get that book because of classes," Sirius said and Remus glared at him.

"Where did I get it from them?" Sophia asked, smiling amusingly at Sirius and Remus's expressions.

"It's Christmas present from us," Sirius smiled. "We thought you might... er... find it useful."

"Cool! Thanks," Sophia smiled, she was sure that she would put it to use in the DA.

"Er... You're happy you got a book," Ron looked at her liked he didn't know her at all. "You spend too much time with Hermione."

"Hmph," Hermione huffed, glaring at Ron, as all the Weasley children laughed.

"What do you mean find it useful," Molly narrowed her eyes, at both Sirius and Sophia. "How will she find the book useful?"

It was clear to both of them that she was thinking about the illegal defense group that she had warned Sophia not to make and they both looked nervously back at her.

"It's just so he can have practice so she won't fail his O.W.L.'s this year because that to... _Umbridge_ is teaching them nothing," Remus said, it was his reason for getting the books for Sophia anyways, but he now realized it was probably not Sirius's.

Percy frowned at Remus; he had always had a high opinion of the man because he really was a good Professor. Remus had after all actually been able to instruct him and his classmates about defensive spells, where as in the year previous he had to take it upon himself to learn everything. Yes, Remus was a werewolf, but that didn't really lower Percy opinion of him, he was actually impressed that Remus had learned so much and actually made contribution to his community despite his disadvantages. Still, he hadn't expected Remus to hiss out Umbridge's in the angry almost growl that he had done. He was a reasonable man after all, and wasn't quick to judge others...

**Then she threw the rest of the newspaper onto the rubbish pile and turned to face the room. It was much tidier. The only things left out of place were today's Daily Prophet, still lying on the bed, and on top of it, the piece of broken mirror.**

**Sophia moved across the room, slid the mirror fragment off today's Prophet, and unfolded the newspaper. She had merely glanced at the headline when she had taken the rolled-up paper from the delivery owl early that morning and thrown it aside, after noting that it said nothing about Voldemort.**

"Argh... they're still hiding things about him," Sirius groaned impatiently. Remus continued to stroke circle's along his waist comfortingly.

**Sophia was sure that the Ministry was leaning on the Prophet to suppress news about Voldemort. It was only now, therefore, that she saw what he had missed.**

**Across the bottom half of the front page a smaller headline was set over a picture of Dumbledore striding along, looking harried:**

**DUMBLEDORE – THE TRUTH AT LAST?**

"I don't like that sound of that," Remus said.

**Coming next week, the shocking story of the flawed genius considered by many to be the greatest wizard of his generation. Striping away the popular image of serene, silver-bearded wisdom, Rita Skeeter**

Everyone groaned at that and Hermione was cursing bitterly in her head. Obviously Rita wasn't going to learn her lesson about writing nasty things anytime soon.

**reveals the disturbed childhood, the lawless youth, the life-long feuds, and the guilty secrets that Dumbledore carried to his grave, WHY was the man tipped to be ****the Minister of Magic content to remain a mere headmaster? WHAT was the real purpose of the secret organization known as the Order of the Phoenix? HOW did Dumbledore really meet his end?**

**The last question seemed to pique the curiosity of many of the people in the room, Dumbledore among them, but no one was looking forward to hearing Skeeter's spin on it.**

**The answers to these and many more questions are explored in the explosive new biography, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, by Rita Skeeter, exclusively interviewed by Berry Braithwaite, page 13, inside.**

**Sophia ripped open the paper and found page thirteen.**

"Why Sophia... you know whatever she writes is crap?" Ron groaned.

Sophia shrugged, she didn't know why.

**The article was topped with a picture showing another familiar face: a woman wearing jeweled glasses with elaborately curled blonde hair, her teeth bared in what was clearly supposed to be a winning smile, wiggling her fingers up at him. Doing her best to ignore this nauseating image, Sophia read on.**

**In person, Rita Skeeter is much warmer and softer than her famously ferocious quill-portraits might suggest.**

"Whoever is writing this is not every intelligent," Hermione muttered darkly.

"You sound like you know Skeeter personally, Hermione," Sirius said raising an eyebrow.

"We might have met," Hermione smirked at him as Sophia, Ron, and Ginny all sniggered. Sirius was more intrigued by this response, as were the twins but didn't ask any more questions about this.

**Greeting me in the hallway of her cozy home, she leads me straight into the kitchen for a cup of tea, a slice of pound cake and, it goes without saying, a steaming vat of freshest gossip.**

**"Well, of course, Dumbledore is a biographer's dream," says Skeeter. "Such a long, full life. I'm sure my book will be the first of very, very many."**

**Skeeter was certainly quick off the mark. Her nine-hundred-page book was completed in a mere four weeks after Dumbledore's mysterious death in June. I ask her how she managed this super fast feat.**

"Oh, by making up fact like I always do," Fred said in a horrible squeaky voice.

**"Oh, when you've been a journalist as long as I have, working to a deadline is second nature. I knew that the Wizarding world was clamoring for the full story and I wanted to be the first to meet that need."**

**I mention the recent, widely publicized remarks of Elphias Doge, Special Advisor to the Wizengamot and longstanding friend of Albus Dumbledore's, that "Skeeter's book contains less fact than a Chocolate Frog card."**

"Er... is he saying that Chocolate Frog cards don't have facts on them," Ron said, mockingly looking crestfallen.

"No, I believe he means that there are only a few things few facts on them and a book that size should have more than that," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

**Skeeter throws back her head and laughs.**

**"Darling Dodgy! I remember interviewing him a few years back about merpeople rights, bless him. Completely gaga, seemed to think we were sitting at the bottom of Lake Windermere, kept telling me to watch out for trout."**

Dumbledore grimaced at this; there was nothing wrong with his friend.

**And yet Elphias Doge's accusations of inaccuracy have been echoed in many places. Does Skeeter really feel that four short weeks have been enough to gain a full picture of Dumbledore's long and extraordinary life?**

**"Oh, my dear," beams Skeeter, rapping me affectionately across the knuckles, "you know as well as I do how much information can be generated by a fat bag of Galleons, a refusal to hear the word 'no,' and a nice sharp Quick-Quotes Quill! People were queuing to dish the dirt on Dumbledore anyway. Not everyone thought he was so wonderful, you know – he trod on an awful lot of important toes.**

"Which means that anything you got from them would be colored by their viewpoint," Remus said.

"Like that Doge's viewpoint wasn't colored," Draco said, and most people looked at him oddly, like they forgot he was there.

"You do have a point there," Remus allowed and Draco made a face at his at him... he didn't need a werewolf's acceptance.

**But old Dodgy Doge can get off his high hippogriff, because I've had access to a source most journalists would swap their wands for, one who has never spoken in public before and who was close to Dumbledore during the most turbulent and disturbing phase of his youth."**

Dumbledore grimaced at this, having a good idea who she was talking about.

**The advance publicity for Skeeter's biography has certainly suggested that there will be shocks in store for those who believe Dumbledore to have led a blameless life. What were the biggest surprises she uncovered, I ask?**

**"Now, come off it. Betty, I'm not giving away all the highlights before anybody's bought the book!" laughs Skeeter. "But I can promise that anybody who still thinks Dumbledore was white as his beard is in for a rude awakening! Let's just say that nobody hearing him rage against You-Know-Who would have dreamed that he dabbled in the Dark Arts himself in his youth!**

Everyone looked at Dumbledore at this, but he didn't notice because he mind was lost in thought... bitter thoughts.

**And for a wizard who spent his later years pleading for tolerance, he wasn't exactly broad-minded when he was younger! Yes, Albus Dumbledore had an extremely murky past, not to mention that very fishy family, which he worked so hard to keep hushed up."**

Dumbledore took a deep breath as the guilt he always lived with came on stronger than it normal does... he was in a room of people that wouldn't believe anything of this to be true... and they would be wrong. And yet that mattered little... what was really bothering him was his thoughts about his family and how he had let them down.

**I ask whether Skeeter is referring to Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, whose conviction by the Wizengamot for misuse of magic caused a minor scandal fifteen years ago.**

**"Oh, Aberforth is just the tip of the dung heap," laughs Skeeter. "No, no, I'm talking about much worse than a brother with a fondness for fiddling about with goats, worse even than the Muggle-maiming father – Dumbledore couldn't keep either of them quiet anyway, they were both charged by the Wizengamot. No, it's the mother and the sister that intrigued me, and a little digging uncovered a positive nest of nastiness – but, as I say, you'll have to wait for chapters nine to twelve for full details. All I can say now is, it's no wonder Dumbledore never talked about how his nose got broken."**

Everyone felt the curiosity burning in them as they wondered what was meant here. Skeeter was intriguing them more than they would have liked to admit, but no one wanted to ask Dumbledore about it. It was clear to them all that it was really hurting him to hear this.

**Family skeletons notwithstanding, does Skeeter deny the brilliance that led to Dumbledore's many magical discoveries?**

**"He had brains," she concedes, "although many now question whether he could really take full credit for all of his supposed achievements. As I reveal in chapter sixteen, Ivor Dillonsby claims he had already discovered eight uses of dragon's blood when Dumbledore 'borrowed' his papers."**

"Oh please," McGonagall snorted indignantly, now that was just ridiculous... Albus would never steal someone idea.

**But the importance of some of Dumbledore's achievements cannot, I venture, be denied. What of his famous defeat of Grindelwald?**

**"Oh, now, I'm glad you mentioned Grindelwald," says Skeeter with such a tantalizing smile. "I'm afraid those who go dewy-eyed over Dumbledore's spectacular victory must brace themselves for a bombshell – or perhaps a Dungbomb. Very dirty business indeed. All I'll say is, don't be so sure that there really was a spectacular duel of legend. After they've read my book, people may be forced to conclude that Grindelwald simply conjured a white handkerchief from the end of his wand and came quietly!"**

_If only that were the case,_ Dumbledore thought wryly. No, that fight was a lot harder than anything he ever had to do in his life... though the emotional strain was what made it seem so impossible.

**Skeeter refuses to give any more away on this intriguing subject, so we turn instead to the relationship that will undoubtedly fascinate her readers more than any other.**

**"Oh yes," says Skeeter, nodding briskly, "I devote an entire chapter to the whole Potter-Dumbledore relationship.**

"Argh," Sophia groaned, not liking the sound of that at all.

**It's been called unhealthy, even sinister.**

"There's nothing sinister about our relationship," Sophia hissed.

**Again, your readers will have to buy my book for the whole story, but there is no question that Dumbledore took an unnatural interest in Potter from the word go. Whether that was really in the girl's best interests – well, we'll see.**

Dumbledore grimace there again, he certainly tried to do things in Sophia's best interest...

**It's certainly an open secret that Potter has had a most troubled adolescence."**

**I ask whether Skeeter is still in touch with Sophia Potter, whom she so famously interviewed last year: a break through piece in which Potter spoke exclusively of her conviction that You-Know-Who had returned.**

"What?" Sophia said confused. "I never talked to her."

"Yet!" Remus pointed out.

"Why would I talk to that cow of all people about Voldemort?" Sophia hissed.

"I don't know, Sophia," Remus said frowning. "But the truth is an article like that could help our situation... it would let more people believe that Voldemort is back. And I know that you don't like to hear this, but must people do think Skeeter is a credible news source."

"But I don't," Sophia said. "She would twist everything that I said!"

"Unless," Hermione said thoughtfully. "Er... that might work..."

"Hermione," Ron said impatiently. "You're doing it again."

"What?" Hermione said.

"You talking as if we understand what you're saying," Ron said.

"It's not my problem you have trouble understanding English," Hermione huffed and Ron stuck his tongue out at her, "I was just thinking that I might be able to get her to write an article... you know without her adding anything to it."

"How would you be able to do that?" Sirius asked.

"Oh... I have my ways," Hermione said, she had a mischievous look in her eyes.

"What have you done to her Hermione?" Remus asked, a little afraid of the answer.

"Nothing much," Hermione shrugged and again Sophia, Ron, and Ginny chuckled.

The adults all looked at them funnily, but they decided to drop it.

"Just remember, you don't want to get on Hermione's bad side," Ron chuckled.

"Er... I think you're the one that needs to remember that more than anyone else," Fred said and everyone laughed as Ron turned red.

"I think you're right Hermione," Sophia said after she got her breath back. "In that circumstance I probably would give her an interview... argh... I'm not looking forward to that but if it helps..."

**"Oh, yes, we've developed a closer bond," says Skeeter. "Poor Potter has few real friends, and we met at one of the most testing moments of her life – the Triwizard Tournament. I am probably one of the only people alive who can say that they know the real Sophia Potter."**

"Argh," Sophia said making a face as everyone else in the room groaned in disgust.

**Which leads ****us neatly to the many rumors still circulating about Dumbledore's final hours. Does Skeeter believe that Potter was there when Dumbledore died?**

Sophia bowed her head; of course she was there... she had to watch everyone die, didn't she?

**"Well, I don't want to say too much – it's all in the book – but eyewitnesses inside Hogwarts castle saw Potter running away from the scene moments after Dumbledore fell, jumped, or was pushed. Potter later gave evidence against Severus Snape,**

Everyone turned their eyes to Snape who was looking at the book in shock. There was no way that he would kill Dumbledore... that was impossible.

"You killed Dumbledore!" Sirius shouted, getting out of his seat. Remus was desperately trying to pull him back down to sit.

"Sit down Sirius," Dumbledore said in a cool calm voice that emanated such power that Sirius reluctantly sat down, but he still glared at Snape murderously.

Snape didn't notice this though. He didn't hear Sirius's outburst or anyone else, for everyone had something to rage about now. He felt numb inside, Dumbledore was gone and he had killed him... How could either one of those things be true? He looked up and met emerald green eyes, and a stable of pain went through him... Now... he had to see those eyes now when he was already grieving for another loss. He looked away, but still he couldn't help but notice that they weren't filled with hate like he had expected, but filled with doubt and... understanding?

"I repeat, I trust Severus Snape," Dumbledore continued his statement to Sirius and all eyes were now on Dumbledore.

"He killed you," Sirius said incredulously... how could Dumbledore trust Snape after this?

"We do not know all the facts Sirius," Dumbledore said calmly.

"So you think Sophia is lying!" Sirius snapped.

"No," this answer came from Snape himself though it looked like he was talking to himself. Everyone glared at him again, even though he looked pale and sick. The girl, he had to admit, would not lie about something like this, he had killed Dumbledore... what had happened?

"So you admit that you killed him!" Sirius shouted.

"Sirius, he cannot admit to have done something that has not taken place yet," Dumbledore said in the same calm voice.

"How can you take this so calmly?" Sirius said shaking his head. "How can you defend your murderer?"

"Because I can think of several reasons why Snape would have to kill me and I wouldn't blame him for any of them," Dumbledore said.

"Er..." Sirius said completely caught off guard by that comment. The whole room in general was speechless now, all of the gaping at Dumbledore.

"I ask you not to judge anyone until we are done with the book," Dumbledore said. "There has to be a reason why Snape was invited in this room along with the rest of us and I doubt it's because of this."

"Fine," Sirius sat all the way back in his chair and crossed his arms, still muttering to himself. Everyone else looked around uncomfortably, not sure what to think but they couldn't really say anything, so Remus did the only thing he could think of; he picked the book up and started to read again.

**a man against whom she has a notorious grudge. Is everything as it seems? That is for the Wizarding community to decide – once they've read my book."**

**On that intriguing note, I take my leave. There can be no doubt that Skeeter has quilled an instant bestseller. Dumbledore's legion of admirers, meanwhile, may well be trembling at what is soon to emerge about their hero.**

**Sophia reached the bottom of the article, but continued to stare blankly at the page. Revulsion and fury rose in her like vomit; she balled up the newspaper and threw it, with all her force, at the wall, where it joined the rest of the rubbish heaped around her overflowing bin.**

"You couldn't have done that before," George said, "and saved us all the trouble of having to listen to that."

"Sorry," Sophia shrugged.

**She began to stride blindly around the room, opening empty drawers and picking****up books only to replace them on the same piles, barely conscious of what she was doing, as random phrases from Rita's article echoed in her head: An entire chapter to the whole Potter-Dumbledore relationship ... It's been called unhealthy, even sinister ... He dabbled in the Dark Arts himself in his youth ... I've had access to a source most journalists would swap their wands for...**

**"Lies!" Sophia bellowed, and through the window she saw the next-door neighbor, who had paused to restart his lawn mower, look up nervously.**

Fred and George snorted but didn't comment.

**Sophia sat down hard on the bed. The broken bit of mirror danced away from her; she picked it up and turned it over in her fingers, thinking, thinking of Dumbledore and the lies with which Rita Skeeter was defaming him...**

**A flash of brightest blue. Sophia froze, her cut finger slipping on the jagged edge of the mirror again. She had imagined it, she must have done. She glanced over her shoulder, but the wall was a sickly peach color of Aunt Petunia's choosing: There was nothing blue there for the mirror to reflect. She peered into the mirror fragment again, and saw nothing but her own bright emerald green eye looking back at her.**

Fred gave George a look, which made him flush slightly. George loved Sophia's eyes.

**She had imagined it, there was no other explanation; imagined it, because she had been thinking of her dead headmaster. If anything was certain, it was that the bright blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore would never pierce her again.**

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow there, thinking that his brother had the same color eyes as he had. But why would Aberforth have the other mirror... and how would he have gotten it in the first place?

"That's the end of the chapter," Remus said, holding out the book.

"I think I should read," McGonagall said taking the book from him.


	3. Chapter 3: The Dursleys Departing

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

* * *

"**The Dursleys Departing," **McGonagall said.

"Ah, how I like the Dursleys best," Sophia mumbled.

**The sound of the front door slamming echoed up the stairs and a voice roared, "Oi! You!"**

**Sixteen years of being addressed thus left Sophia in no doubt when her uncle was calling,**

"Did they ever call you by your name?" Hermione questioned, her eyes narrowed.

Sophia didn't answer right away, she tried to think of a time that they had, but she couldn't. "I can't remember."

Everyone looked appalled by that, but those who knew her well knew that she wouldn't want them to say anything about this and those that didn't know her at all didn't want to let her see that they felt sympathetic towards her.

**nevertheless, she did not immediately respond. She was still at the narrow fragment in which, for a split second, she had thought he saw Dumbledore's eye. It was not until her uncle bellowed, "GIRL!" that Sophia got slowly out of bed and headed for the bedroom door, pausing to add the piece of broken mirror to the rucksack filled with things she would be taking with her.**

"Why would you do that, it was just a broken shard of glass?" Ron said.

"I thought I saw Dumbledore's eye in it," Sophia said.

"But you also thought that was impossible," Ron said.

"So, I don't really understand why I'm taking it either, but there was something odd about that," Sophia shrugged.

"**You took you time!" roared Vernon Dursley when Sophia appeared at the top of the stairs, "Get down here. I want a word!"**

**Sophia strolled downstairs, her hands deep in her jean pockets. When she searched the living room she found all three Dursleys. They were dressed for packing; Uncle Vernon in an old ripped-up jacket and Dudley, Sophia's, large, blond, muscular cousin, in his leather jacket.**

"**Yes?" asked Sophia.**

"**Sit down!" said Uncle Vernon. Sophia raised her eyebrows. "Please!" added Uncle Vernon,**

"What?" Sophia said looking at the book shocked. "He actually said please!"

Again everyone frowned but didn't say anything about Sophia's home life.

**wincing slightly as though the word was sharp in his throat.**

**Sophia**** sat. She though she knew what was coming. Her uncle began to pace up and down, Aunt Petunia and Dudley, following his movement with anxious expressions. Finally, his large purple face crumpled with concentration. Uncle Vernon stopped in front of Sophia and spoke.**

**"I've changed my mind," he said.**

**"What a surprise," said Sophia.**

"Well, Someone's feeling sassy today," George said and only laughed when she gave him a rude hand gesture when the adults weren't looking.

**"Don't you take that tone—" began Aunt Petunia in a shrill voice, but Vernon Dursley waved her down**

Sophia narrowed her eyes, what was going on. Why had her Uncle said please to her and why was he stopping her aunt from yelling at her?

**"It's all a lot of claptrap," said Uncle Vernon, glaring at Sophia with piggy little eyes. "I've decided I don't believe a word of it. We're staying put, we're not going anywhere."**

**Sophia looked up at her uncle and felt a mixture of exasperation and amusement. Vernon Dursley had been changing his mind every twenty four hours for the past four weeks, packing and unpacking and repacking the car with every change of heart. Sophia's favorite moment had been the one when Uncle Vernon, unaware the Dudley had added his dumbbells to his case since the last time it been repacked, had attempted to hoist it back into the boot and collapsed with a yelp of pain and much swearing.**

Sophia, Hermione, the Weasley children, Remus, Tonks and Sirius where all laughing at that.

"**According to you," Vernon Dursley said, now resuming his pacing up and down the living room, "we – Petunia, Dudley, and I – are in danger. From – from –"**

"Why would they be in danger?" Sophia asked, not sure what she was feeling at the moment.

"I would think that it was likely that Voldemort would to use them to try and lure you to him," Dumbledore said.

"Oh," Sophia said blinking, again not sure what she was feeling.

"You wouldn't actually go to save those people would you," Sirius said.

"I don't know," Sophia said and most people looked at her sadly.

"I think she would," Fleur said. "If she was willing to help my sister when she didn't even know who she was, she would help her family... even when they are... horrible people."

"Yeah, but your sister was an innocent girl... Sophia has a thing about saving the innocent from danger," Fred said.

"No, I agree with Fleur," Ginny said, looking like she hated to admit this, for more than one reason. "Sophia would help these poor excuses for people."

"**Some of 'my lot' right?" said Sophia**

"**Well I don't believe it," repeated Uncle Vernon, coming to a halt in front of Sophia again. "I was awake half the night thinking it all over, and I believe it's a plot to get the house."**

**"The house?" repeated Sophia. "What house?"**

**"This house!" shrieked Uncle Vernon,**

"Why would I want that house?" Sophia made a face.

**the vein his forehead starting to pulse. "Our house! House prices are skyrocketing around here! You want us out of the way and then you're going to do a bit of hocus pocus and before we know it the deeds will be in your name and –"**

"**Are you out of your mind?" demanded Sophia. "A plot to get this house? Are you actually as stupid as you look?"**

"I think he might actually be stupider," George laughed.

"I don't, that really is too close to tell," Fred laughed, too.

**"Don't you dare -!" squealed Aunt Petunia, but again Vernon waved her down. **

**"Why would I want the house? All the happy memories?"**

**There was silence. Sophia thought she had rather impressed her uncle with this argument.**

**"You claim," said Uncle Vernon, starting to pace yet again, "that this Lord Thing –"**

McGonagall frowned as she looked at the next work to be read.

"Er... what's the problem," Sirius said after the long paused.

"I probably said Voldemort," Sophia said and most people shuddered.

"Well none of that, that's just not going to cut it here," Sirius said in a stern voice, remarkably like McGonagall's. "Everyone is going to just have to read this book the way it's meant to be!"

"You mean we're going to have to say snakeface's name!" Fred gasped.

"Surely you wouldn't make us do that!" George said in mock terror.

"It's about time everyone gets over this whole flinching thing," Sirius said, trying not to laugh at the twins' comments.

"I agree with him," Dumbledore said, looking amused himself. "By not saying his name you only are reinforcing your fear in him... giving him more power."

"Oh very well," McGonagall said hotly and she was going to make sure everyone else read his name, that was for sure.

**"—Voldemort," said Sophia impatiently, "and we've been through this about a hundred times already. This isn't a claim, it's fact. Dumbledore told you last year, and Kingsley and Mr. Weasley –"**

**Vernon Dursley hunched his shoulders angrily, and Sophia guessed that her uncle was attempting to ward off recollections of the unannounced visit, a few days into Sophia's summer holidays, of two fully grown wizards. The arrival on the doorstep of Kingsley Shackelbot and Arthur Weasley had come as a most unpleasant shock to the Dursleys. Sophia had to admit, however that as Mr. Weasley had once demolished half of the living room, his reappearance could not have been expected to delight Uncle Vernon.**

"You did what?" Molly said looking incredulously at her husband.

"Er... I must have forgotten to tell you that," Arthur said rubbing the back of his head and laughing nervously.

"What did you do Arthur?" Molly narrowed her eyes.

"It wasn't Dad's fault really," Fred stepped in, a grin on his face.

"Yeah, we had to get out of the fireplace somehow!" George laughed.

"You see Molly, the Dursleys had an eltrikre fireplace," Arthur said, his face lighting up when he said this.

Everyone was laughing so hard at this point that they couldn't hear the rest of Arthur's mumbled excuse to his wife.

**"—Kingsley and Mr. Weasley explained it all as well," Sophia pressed on remorselessly, "Once I'm seventeen, the protective charm that keeps me safe will break, and that exposes you as well as me. The Order is sure Voldemort will target you, whether to torture you to try and find out where I am, or because he thinks by holding you hostage I'd come and try to rescue you."**

**Uncle Vernon's and Sophia's eyes met. Sophia was sure that in that instant they were both wondering the same thing.**

"Whether or not I would save them," Sophia muttered, for despite what the others said, she wasn't sure what she would have done.

**Then Uncle Vernon walked on and Sophia resumed, "You've got to go into hiding and the Order wants to help. You're being offered serious protection, the best there is."**

"That seems like a waste to me," Sirius said.

"That's because you have such a limited mind," Snape sneered. "If there is a chance Potter would go after those Muggles than they are more valuable than most."

"Hm... It seems that Saint Potter wouldn't really be that hard to get hold of," Draco said. "You could just threaten any of her little friends and she would come running to the danger."

Sophia looked at Draco, frowning but a little worried.

"Especial the M... frizz head or Weasley King," Draco nodded towards Ron and Hermione.

"Mr. Malfoy that's enough," McGonagall said sharply.

**Uncle Vernon said nothing but continued to pace up and down. Outside the sun hung low over the privet hedges. The next door neighbor's lawn mower stalled again.**

**"I thought there was a Ministry of Magic?" asked Vernon Dursley abruptly.**

**"There is," said Sophia, surprised.**

**"Well, then, why can't they protect us? It seems to me that, as innocent victims, guilty of nothing more than harboring a marked woman, we ought to qualify for government protection!"**

"I wouldn't call them innocent!" Molly said sharply, unable to keep her temper this time.

Sophia however snorted at this.

"What's so funny?" Ron raised his eyebrow.

"It's just that it's typical of him to put his hopes in the establishment, even when he's talking about the magical world."

"Er... that's not really funny," Ron said and Sophia just shrugged.

**Sophia laughed; she could not help herself. It was so very typical of her uncle to put his hopes in the establishment, even within this world that he despised and mistrusted.**

"It looks like Sophia really disagrees with you there," Charlie smirked at his brother.

**"You heard what Mr. Weasley and Kingsley said," Sophia replied.**

**"We think the Ministry has been infiltrated."**

"Well, at least we know that." McGonagall muttered, but it wasn't much of a comfort.

**Uncle Vernon strode back to the fireplace and back breathing so strongly that his great black mustache rippled his face still purple with concentration.**

**"All right," he said. Stopping in front of Sophia get again. "All right, let's say for the sake of argument we accept this protection. I still don't see why we can't have that Kingsley bloke."**

"Huh, that almost sounds like they like you Kingsley," Sophia said, surprised. She didn't think they could should any kind of liking to any wizard.

"I don't know whether to be offended or not." Kingsley said much to the amusement of most of the room.

**Sophia managed not to roll her eyes, but with much difficulty. This question had also been addressed half a dozen times.**

**"And As I've told you," she said through gritted teeth, "Kingsley is protecting the Mug – I mean, your Prime Minister."**

**"Exactly – he's the best!"**

"And way too good to look after something like this," Tonks snorted making Kingsley smile at her.

**said Uncle Vernon, pointing at the blank television screen. The Dursleys had spotted Kingsley on the news, walking along the Muggle Prime Minister as he visited a hospital. This, and the fact that Kingsley had mastered the knack of dressing like a Muggle, not to mention a certain reassuring something in his slow, deep voice, had caused the Dursleys to take to Kingsley in a way that they had certainly not done with any other wizard, although it was true that they had never seen him with earring in.**

**"Well, he's taken," said Sophia.**

**"But Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle are more than up to the job –"**

**"If we'd even seen CVs…" began Uncle Vernon, but Sophia lost patience. Getting to her feet, she advanced on her uncle, now pointing at the TV set.**

**"These accidents aren't accidents – the crashed and explosions and derailments and whatever else has happened since we last watched the news.**

Everyone flinched at the mention of some of the horrors that will happen.

**People are disappearing and dying and he's behind it – Voldemort. I've told you this over and over again, he kills Muggles for fun. Even the fogs – they're caused by dementors, and if you can't remember what they are, ask your son!"**

Sirius shivered at this leaning into Remus' side, he was never going to like hearing about dementors for as long as he lived.

Sophia had shivered, too, at the mention of the attack that had just happened a few months ago. Again, she wondered what Dudley was forced to see when the dementors got close to him.

**Dudley's hands jerked upward to tower his mouth. With his parents' and Sophia's eyes upon him, he slowly lowered them again and asked, "There are… more of them?"**

Sophia rolled her eyes, did Dudley really believed that there would only be two of those creatures in the whole world?

**"More?" laughed Sophia. "More than the two that attacked us, you mean? Of course there are hundreds, maybe thousands by this time, seeing as they feed off fear and despair—"**

**"All right, all right," blustered Vernon Dursley. "You've made your point –"**

**"I hope so," said Sophia, "because once I'm seventeen, all of them – Death Eaters, dementors, maybe even Inferi –**

"Inferi?" Sophia questioned which cause several people to chuckle, though of course not too much because Inferi weren't something to laugh about. "What?" she said to the one's laughing.

"Sorry," Ron said still chuckling a little. "It's just you're asking what something is..."

"About something that you're trying to explain about in the book," Hermione finished with a amused expression.

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Oh, that was so funny."

"I thought so," Ron shrugged.

Sophia glared at him, and really wanted to know what Inferi were but wasn't going to ask again and no one seemed willing to tell her now.

**which means dead bodies enchanted by a Dark wizard –**

Well at least her book self was nicer than her friends where.

**will be able to find you and will certainly attack you. And if you remember the last time you tried to outrun wizards, I think you'll agree you need help."**

**There was a brief silence in which the distant echo of Hagrid smashing down a wooden front door seemed to reverberate through the intervening years.**

Sophia chuckled, finding the memory of that night a lot more humorous then it was at the time.

"What was that about?" Bill asked.

"Oh, just when Hagrid came to tell me about being a witch," Sophia shrugged with a smile and Ron snorted, remembering Sophia telling him about Dudley's pig tail.

**Aunt Petunia was looking at Uncle Vernon; Dudley was staring at Sophia. Finally Uncle Vernon blurted out, "But what about my work? What about Dudley's school? I don't suppose those things matter to a bunch of lay about wizards –"**

**"Don't you understand?" shouted Sophia. "They will torture and kill you like they did my parents!"**

Sirius, Remus, and Snape all flinched particularly hard at this, all thinking about the bitter day they had lost the people that they cared about so deeply.

Sophia had bowed her head and shivered, she could still hear what the dementors had once made her listen to when they were too close to her. She shuddered at this thought.

**"Dad," said Dudley in a loud voice, "Dad – I'm going with these Order people."**

"That's probably the smartest... er... only smart thing he's ever said in his life," Fred said, trying to cheer everyone up.

**"Dudley," said Sophia, "for the first time in your life, you're talking sense."**

"See, Sophia agrees with me." Fred said smugly, as though Sophia agreeing with him ended the entire argument.

**She knew the battle was won. If Dudley was frightened enough to accept the Order's help, his parents would accompany him. There could be no question of being separated from their Duddykins.**

"Duddykins?" several people said before bursting out laughing.

**Sophia glanced at the carriage clock on the mantelpiece.**

**"They'll be here in about five minutes," she said, and before one of the Dursleys replied, she left the room. The prospect of parting—probably forever – from her aunt, uncle, and cousin was one that she was able to contemplate quite cheerfully but there was nevertheless a certain awkwardness in the air. What did you say to one another at the end of sixteen years' solid dislike?**

The laughter in Sirius and Remus's face's died as they listened to that. Sophia shouldn't have lived like that. She should have had a happy life, with her parents, or with Sirius and Remus.

**Back in her bedroom, Sophia fiddled aimlessly with her rucksack then poked a couple of owl nuts through the bats of Hedwig's cage. They fell with dull thuds to the bottom where she ignored them.**

**"We're leaving soon, really soon," Sophia told her. "And then you'll be able to fly again."**

**The doorbell rang. Sophia hesitated, then headed back out of her room and downstairs. It was too much to expect Hestia and Dedalus to cope with the Dursleys on their own.**

**"Sophia Potter!" squeaked an excited voice, the moment Sophia had opened the door; a small man in a mauve top hat that was sweeping her a deep bow. "An honor as ever!"**

Sophia rolled her eyes, she had nothing again Dedalus, but she wished he would get over his excitement whenever she was present.

**"Thanks, Dedalus," said Sophia, bestowing a small and embarrassed smile upon the dark haired Hestia. "It's really good of you to do this… They're through here, my aunt and uncle and cousin…"**

"I wonder how they draw the short straw and got landed with Dursley duty," Bill muttered.

"Honestly, Dedalus is almost as nuts as Dad is about Muggles," Charlie said, though he had hardly been home; he had been to a meeting or two before he went back to Romania. "He might have even volunteered."

"That's true," Arthur chuckled. "But I doubt Hestia would have done that."

**"Good day to you, Sophia Potter's relatives!" said Dedalus**

Sophia snorted at that.

"I don't think they're going to like being called that," Ginny said as several people sniggered.

**happily striding into the living room. The Dursleys did not look at all happy to be addressed thus; Sophia half expected another change of mind. Dudley shrank neared to his mother at the sight of the witch and wizard.**

Sophia chuckled at this, too.

**"I see you are packed and ready. Excellent! The plan, as Sophia has told you, is a simple one," said Dedalus, pulling an immense pocket watch out of his waistcoat and examining it. "We shall be leaving before Sophia does. Due to the danger of using magic in your house –Sophia being still underage it could provide the Ministry with an excuse to arrest her –**

"Hm... well it doesn't look like the Ministry is going to like me much in the future either," Sophia said indifferently.

**we shall be driving, say, ten miles or so before Disapparating to the safe location we have picked out for you. You know how to drive, I take it?" He asked Uncle Vernon politely.**

Sophia shook her head, that wasn't the right question to ask if one was trying to convince the Dursleys to go with them.

**"Know how to –? Of course I ruddy well know how to drive!" spluttered Uncle Vernon.**

**"Very clever of you, sir, very clever. I personally would be utterly bamboozled by all those buttons and knobs," said Dedalus. He was clearly under the impression that he was flattering Vernon Dursley, who was visibly losing confidence in the plan with every word Dedalus spoke.**

**"Can't even drive," he muttered under his breath, his mustache rippling indignantly, but fortunately neither Dedalus nor Hestia seemed to hear him.**

**"You, Sophia," Dedalus continued, "will wait here for your guard. There has been a little change in the arrangements –"**

Several people raised an eyebrow at that. All of them were thinking about the first chapter and hoped that the Order had indeed had come up with something that would keep Sophia safe.

"**What d'you mean?" said Sophia at once. "I thought Mad-Eye was going to come and take me by Side Along-Apparition?"**

**"Can't do it," said Hestia tersely, "Mad-Eye will explain."**

**The Dursleys, who had listened to all of this with looks of utter incomprehension on their faces, jumped as a loud voice screeched, "Hurry up!" Sophia looked all around the room before realizing the voice had issued from Dedalus' pocket watch.**

"Brilliant!" Both Fred and George exclaimed.

**"Quite right, were operating to a very tight schedule," said Dedalus nodding at his watch and tucking it back into his waist coat. "We are attempting to time your departure from the house with your family's Disapparition, Sophia thus the charm breaks the moment you all head for safety." He turned to the Dursleys, "Well, are we all packed and ready to go?"**

**None of them answered him. Uncle Vernon was still staring appalled at the bulge in Dedalus' waistcoat pocket.**

**"Perhaps we should wait outside in the hall, Dedalus," murmured Hestia. She clearly felt that it would be tactless for them to remain the room while Sophia and the Dursleys exchanged loving, possibly tearful farewells.**

"Like that will ever happen," Sophia rolled her eyes, again drawing sad looks

**"There's no need," Sophia muttered, but Uncle Vernon made any further explanation unnecessary by saying loudly, "Well, this is good-bye then girl."**

**He swung his right arm upward to shake Sophia's hand, but at the last moment seemed unable to face it, and merely closed his fist and began swinging it backward and forward like a metronome.**

**"Ready, Duddy?" asked Petunia, fussily checking the clasp of her handbag so as to avoid looking at Sophia altogether.**

Molly pressed her lips tightly together; she was finding it harder and harder not to say anything about these deplorable people. It was particularly hard now, how could she just ignore her like that?

**Dudley did not answer but stood there with his mouth slightly ajar, reminding Sophia of the giant, Grawp.**

"You know a giant!" Molly exclaimed alarmed.

"No," Sophia said shaking her head. "Not yet at least."

"Well I guess that's something to look forward to," Ron said looking pale as he spoke.

"I wonder if this has something to do with Hagrid?" Hermione mused, looking just as pale as Ron was.

"Don't say that," McGonagall groaned, none of the Order members liked that Hagrid had taken so long getting back from his mission, nor the fact that he hadn't told them why he had taken so long. McGonagall tried to shake her head of this thought, but the problem was, that did seem like a likely explanation for what had happened.

**"Come along, then," said Uncle Vernon.**

**He had already reached the living room door when Dudley mumbled, "I don't understand."**

**"What don't you understand, popkin?" asked Petunia looking up at her son.**

**Dudley raised a large, ham like hand to point at Sophia.**

**"Why isn't she coming with us?"**

"What?" Sophia said raising an eyebrow. That almost sounded like Dudley might care what happened to her.

"Because she doesn't want to go with you," several people said, pointing out the obvious.

**Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia froze when they stood staring at Dudley as though he had just expressed a desire to become a ballerina.**

Several people snorted at that.

"Now that would have been quite a sight to see," Ron laughed.

**"What?" said Uncle Vernon loudly.**

**"Why isn't she coming too?" asked Dudley.**

**"Well, she—doesn't want to," said Uncle Vernon, turning to glare at Sophia and adding, "You don't want to, do you?"**

**"Not in the slightest," said Sophia.**

**"There you are," Uncle Vernon told Dudley. "Now come on we're off."**

**He marched out of the room. They heard the front door open, but Dudley did not move and after a few faltering steps Aunt Petunia stopped too.**

**"What now?" barked Uncle Vernon, reappearing in the doorway.**

**It seemed that Dudley was struggling with concepts too difficult to put into words. After several moments of apparently painful internal struggle he said, "But where's she going to go?"**

"He sounds... concerned about you?" Hermione said questioningly, that didn't really sound right.

"That's what I was thinking, too," Sophia said in a similar voice. "I wonder where that came from."

**Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon looked at each other. It was clear that Dudley was frightening them. Hestia Jones broke the silence.**

**"But… surely you know where your niece is going?" she asked looking bewildered.**

**"Certainly we know," said Vernon Dursley. "She's off with some of your lot, isn't she? Right, Dudley, let's get in the car, you heard the man, we're in a hurry."**

Everyone was grimacing at this, how could they care so little about Sophia?

**Again, Vernon Dursley marched as far as the front door, but Dudley did not follow.**

**"Off with some of our lot?"**

**Hestia looked outraged. Sophia had met this attitude before Witches and Wizards seemed stunned that her closed living relatives took so little interest in the famous Sophia Potter.**

**"It's fine," Sophia assured her. "It doesn't matter, honestly."**

"It does matter Sophia," Hermione whispered, "It's horrible."

**"Doesn't matter?" repeated Hestia, her voice rising considerably.**

**"Don't these people realize what you've been through? What danger you are in? The unique position you hold in the hearts of the anti-Voldemort movement?"**

"Of course not, they don't even know who Lord Thingy is," Fred said.

**"Er –no, they don't," said Sophia. "They think I'm a waste of space, actually but I'm used to –"**

**"I don't think you're a waste of space."**

**If Sophia had not seen Dudley's lips move,**

Sophia was looking at the book oddly again, not sure she believed what McGonagall had just read.

**she might not have believed it. As it was, she stared at Dudley for several seconds before accepting that it must have been her cousin who had spoken; for one thing, Dudley had turned red. Sophia was embarrassed and astonished herself.**

**"Well... er… thanks, Dudley."**

**Again, Dudley appeared to grapple with thoughts too unwieldy for expression before mumbling, "You saved my life,"**

Here Sophia furrowed his eyebrows, if he was talking about the dementors then this change in her cousin was happening now. She wondered what would happen when she got back to the Dursleys, would Dudley actually treat her... nicely?

**"Not really," said Sophia. "It was your soul the dementor would have taken…"**

**She looked curiously at her cousin. They had had virtually no contact during this summer or last, as Sophia had come back to Privet Drive so briefly and kept to her room so much. It now dawned on Sophia, however, that the cup of cold tea on which she had trodden that morning might not have been a booby trap at all. Although rather touched she was nevertheless quite relieved that Dudley appeared to have exhausted his ability to express his feelings.**

"Yeah, I can imagine," Sophia said.

"Does this mean that you don't want us pulling anything else on him?" George questioned.

"George!" Molly reprimanded, but Sophia chuckled.

**After opening his mouth once or twice more, Dudley subsided into scarlet-faced silence.**

**Aunt Petunia burst into tears. Hestia Jones gave her an approving look that changed to outrage as Aunt Petunia ran forward and embraced Dudley rather than Sophia.**

**"S-so sweet, Dudders…" she sobbed into his massive chest. "S-such a lovely b-boy… s-saying thank you…"**

"Er... he didn't say thank you," Tonks said.

"Yeah, but coming from Dudley that was a lot more," Sophia said.

**"But he hasn't said thank you at all!" said Hestia indignantly. "He only said he didn't think Sophia was a waste of space!"**

**"Yea but coming from Dudley that's like 'I love you,'" said Sophia, torn between annoyance and a desire to laugh as Aunt Petunia continued to clutch at Dudley as if he had just saved Sophia from a burning building.**

**"Are we going or not?" roared Uncle Vernon, reappearing yet again at the living room door. "I thought we were on a tight schedule!"**

**"Yes –yes, we are," said Dedalus Diggle, who had been watching these exchanged with an air of bemusement and now seemed to pull himself together. "We really must be off. Sophia –"**

**He tripped forward and wrung Sophia's hand with both of his own.**

**"—good luck. I hope we meet again. The hopes of the Wizarding world rest upon your shoulders."**

"No pressure there," Fred chuckled.

**"Oh," said Sophia, "right. Thanks."**

**"Farwell, Sophia," said Hestia also clasping her hand. "Our thoughts go with you."**

**"I hope everything's okay," said Sophia with a glance toward Aunt Petunia and Dudley.**

**"Oh I'm sure we shall end up the best of chums," said Diggle slightly,**

"See, completely nuts," Charlie chuckled.

**waving his hat as he left the room. Hestia followed him.**

**Dudley gently released himself from his mother's clutches and walked toward Sophia who had to repress an urge to threaten him with magic.**

"I don't think he's going to do anything to you," Hermione said.

"I know, but I just not use to him coming at me without him threatening me in some way," Sophia shrugged.

**Then Dudley held out his large, pink hand.**

**"Blimey, Dudley," said Sophia over Aunt Petunia's renewed sobs, "did the dementors blow a different personality into you?"**

Several people chuckled at that though Sirius shivered. His personally had changed a lot because the dementors.

**"Dunno," muttered Dudley, "See you, Sophia."**

**"Yea …" said Sophia, raking Dudley's hand and shaking it. "Maybe. Take care, Big D."**

**Dudley nearly smiled. They lumbered from the room. Sophia heard his heavy footfalls on the graveled drive, and then a car door slammed.**

**Aunt Petunia whose face had been buried in her handkerchief looked around at the sound. She did not seem to have expected to find herself alone with Sophia. Hastily stowing her wet handkerchief into her pocket, she said, "Well – good-bye" and marched towards the door without looking at her.**

**"Good-bye" said Sophia.**

**She stopped and looked back. For a moment Sophia had the strangest feeling that she wanted to say something to her; She gave her an odd, tremulous look and seemed to teeter on the edge of speech, but then, with a little of her head, she hustled out of the room after her husband and son.**

"That's the end of the chapter," McGonagall said, "who would like to read now?"

"I think I will," Dumbledore said and took the book from her.


	4. Chapter 4: The Seven Potters

"**The Seven Potters,"**Dumbledore said. "Curious title."

"What do you think it means?" Remus raised an eyebrow, he was pretty sure there was only one Potter left in the magical world and she was sitting right in front of him.

"I have a few theories," Dumbledore said, but didn't answer farther.

**Sophia ran back upstairs to her bedroom, arriving at the window just in time to see the Dursleys' car swinging out of the drive and off up the road. Dedalus' top hat was visible between Aunt Petunia and Dudley in the backseat. The car turned right at the end of Privet Drive, its windows burned scarlet for a moment in the now setting sun, and then it was gone.**

**Sophia picked up Hedwig's cage, her Firebolt, and her rucksack, gave her unnaturally tidy bedroom one last sweeping look, and then made her ungainly way back downstairs to the hall, where she deposited cage, broomstick, and bag near the foot of the stairs. The light was fading rapidly, the hall full of shadows in the evening light. It felt most strange to stand here in the silence and know that she was about to leave the house for the last time. Long ago, when she had been left alone while the Dursleys went out to enjoy themselves, the hours of solitude had been a rare treat. Pausing only to sneak something tasty from the fridge, she had rushed upstairs to play on Dudley's computer, or put on the television and flicked through the channels to her heart's content. It gave her an odd, empty feeling remembering those times; it was like remembering a younger brother whom she had lost.**

"So, you do like your house?" Sirius said.

"The house itself isn't so bad," Sophia admitted, she had an odd smile as she was remembering the times that the book had just spoke about.

"**Don't you want to take a last look at the place?" she asked Hedwig, who was still sulking with her head under her wing.**

"No, I think all she wants to do is fly," Charlie said.

"**We'll never be here again. Don't you want to remember all the good times? I mean, look at this doormat.**

"The doormat?" several people questioned laughing.

"I think you've seriously lost your mind mate," Ron said to her.

**What memories … Dudley sobbed on it after I saved him from the dementors … Turns out he was grateful after all, can you believe it? … And last summer, Dumbledore walked through that front door …"**

"Really?" Sophia said. "Why would you do that Sir?"

Dumbledore was frowning at this, not sure what to say, and it was then that Sophia was remained just how angry she was at her headmaster at the moment. The appearance of the book and the fact that Dumbledore was treating her normally again had wiped it from her memory for a little while but it returned now.

As if reading her mind Dumbledore said, with a deep sigh, "I don't know Sophia but it seems that my attempt to put some distance between us must not have worked out."

"And why have you been trying to put some distance between us?" Sophia asked a little hotly.

Dumbledore looked Sophia in the eyes then and noticed with relief that there weren't any of the signs he had seen the last time he had looked into her eyes. "I was afraid of what Voldemort might do when he found out that your minds where connected. In fact I was planning on having Severus teach you Occlumency so that you could stop Voldemort's thoughts from affecting you..."

"You mean so I wouldn't have any more visions?" Sophia said raising an eyebrow and then she couldn't help but looked at Arthur. Most of the people in the room were looking at Arthur, too, now, though Charlie, Fleur and Draco was looking at her completely lost. Sophia had to admit that would be good, she never wanted to be in Voldemort's mind again, and yet... "But wasn't it a good thing... I mean... Mr. Weasley..."

"Yes, it was a good thing that you were able to help Arthur," Dumbledore said, "but at least, you have gone so deeply into Voldemort conscientiousness that he is now aware of the connection between you two. I even thought I saw a bit of this coming through when I looked at you before sending you to Grimmauld Place."

Sophia swallowed hard, she didn't like the sound of that one bit and she knew exactly what Dumbledore was talking about. "So why are you answer all my questions now?" she said, not wanting to think of this connection anymore.

"I don't believe Voldemort can reach you in this place," Dumbledore said. "And it seems that you will know what is being kept from you now."

"And what is that, Sir?" Sophia said, trying to keep the hostility out of her voice with difficulty.

Dumbledore looked at her gravely, like he didn't want to say want he is about to say, but was forcing himself to anyways. However, he now knew there was no point of keeping this from her any longer, the book was going to tell more dangerous story for them to know and there was nothing he could do about that now. Besides, Sophia needed to know the truth, no matter how dark it was.

"There was a prophecy made before you were even born about someone having the power to defeat the Dark Lord," Dumbledore said, he was intending to give Sophia the full prophecy whenever it was that he was going to tell her this, but it didn't seem right to say it in front of a group of people, so he settled for saying what he knew that Voldemort had already known. "That the child would be born as the seven month dies, from parents that had thrice escaped from the Dark Lord, and she would be marked as his equal."

"Me?" Sophia said as several people gasped in the background.

"It didn't have to mean you, Sophia, there was another child that the prophecy could have been talking about," Dumbledore said gravely, "Neville Longbottom."

There was more gasping at this.

"Then maybe I'm not..." Sophia started to say.

"Unfortunately there is no doubt that you are the child of the prophecy now," Dumbledore said. "Marked as an equal..." he added softly and Sophia's hand moved to her scar without thinking.

"So he went after me as a baby... because of this," Sophia finally said after he took a moment to think, and this was why his family was killed.

"Yes," Dumbledore said simply.

"I think you should start reading again," Sophia sat back into Sirius' embrace.

**Sophia lost the thread of her thoughts for a moment and Hedwig did nothing to help her retrieve it, but continued to sit with her head under her wing. Sophia turned her back on the front door.**

"**And under here, Hedwig" – Sophia pulled open a door under the stairs –**

"Oh no," Sophia mumbled, though she was barely listen she couldn't help but know where this was heading and she was distinctly aware that she never told anyone this.

"**is where I used to sleep!**

"WHAT?" everyone in the room, including Snape and Draco exclaimed. Draco just couldn't believe the famous Sophia Potter could ever have been treated like that whereas Snape was angry. Angry that he seemed to have something in common with Sophia and even angrier that he couldn't recognize that.

"YOU... THEY... IN A BROOM CUPBROAD!" Molly screams where the loudest to hear though by no means was she the only one screaming. Everyone was outraged about this, McGonagall seemed to be directing her scream at Dumbledore, and he was looking grave.

Sirius was pacing in the room, having let go of Sophia, growling, his angrer seemed to have gone past words. His mind was going back and forth between wanting to curse the Dursley for their treatment of his goddaughter to being angry at himself and the _rat_ for not being there for Sophia himself.

Remus was shaking in his seat with the furry he was feeling. He knew what it was like to be in a small confine space, locked behind a door, and knew the pain and fear that Sophia must have lived with. But at least there was a reason why had to be lock away, and that was only once a month... Sophia didn't deserve this; she never did anything to the Muggles that she lived with.

"Why didn't you tell us this?" Hermione whispered softly so only Sophia and Ron could hear her.

Sophia took a deep breath and then forced herself too look at her (Ron was sitting behind her, his eyes convoying how horrible he felt about this). "I didn't know how to bring it up," Sophia said, her eyes trying to tell them that she really didn't want to talk about this.

"Sophia... I... I know you said they were bad... I never thought..." Hermione said biting her lip, trying not to cry and finding it difficult, as she thought of her friend as a little girl living in that dark place.

"Yeah, Soph, I can't believe I was ever jealous of you," Ron said, he hated having to try and make light of this situation but he had to try. Sophia didn't want they harping over this, she didn't want them talking about it at all. It was enough that they knew, and that they would make sure that nothing like this would ever happen to him again.

"Ronald," Hermione turned to glare at him, her eyes clearly saying 'how can you be so insensitive'. Then Sophia actually chuckled.

"I'm sure I told you that a long time ago," Sophia said.

"Yeah, well, how could I believe that, you're Sophia freaking Potter," Ron shrugged.

"Yeah..." Sophia rolled her eyes. "And you know how much I love that."

Hermione reached over to give her a quick but firm hug. She didn't want her to think about what they were talking about again after Ron had so nicely distracted her from, but she needed to hug her, show her that she was there for her.

Then she turned to Ron and hugged him, too. She knew that Ron had just been trying to cheer Sophia up, trying to make her forget that she was in a room full of people that were yelling as screaming about something that Sophia would rather not hear about. Ron always seemed to know just what to do to make Sophia feel better, whereas she was always trying to confront her about her feelings. The hug she gave Ron was shorter than the one she had given Sophia. Even so, she felt her face burn when she wrapped her arms around him and her heart started to hammer when she notice Ron had hugged her back before she pulled away.

"You two are both gits you know that," Hermione told them, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Yeah sure, but that's why you love us right," Sophia chuckled.

"Honestly Hermione, would you want us any other way," Ron added with her favorite lop sided grin.

"No, I wouldn't," Hermione smiled at them.

"Well, if you're down with your touching golden trio moment," Fred said.

"Golden trio?" Ron said questioningly.

"It's what everyone calls you lot at school," George informed them.

"Really?" Ron said, shocked that he was included in something like that. He always figured that everyone was just talking about Sophia, not the three of them.

"Moving on," Fred said.

"We probably should get back to reading the book," George said. George, himself was trying to hide his anger. He knew Sophia, she was a sweet girl, who never deserved this treatment for something beyond her control. His greatest desire was go to the Dursleys and tell them exactly what he thought about it.

It had seemed that sometime during Sophia, Ron, and Hermione's conversation everyone calmed down. Or at least they calmed down enough to see that Sophia didn't want them to shout like this about this.

**You never knew me then – Blimey, it's small, I'd forgotten …"**

Sirius muttered darkly under his breath.

**Sophia looked around at the stacked shoes and umbrellas remembering how she used to wake every morning looking up at the underside of the staircase, which was more often than not adorned with a spider or two.**

"Argh, you just had to make it worse, didn't you?" Ron grumbled, taking care to keep his tone low enough so only Sophia and Hermione could hear him.

"Sorry mate," Sophia chuckled, as Hermione rolled her eyes.

Everyone else seemed to be getting angry again at the description of this but they were trying not to show it.

**Those had been the days before she had known anything about her true identity; before she had found out how her parents had died or why such strange things often happened around her. But Sophia could still remember the dreams that had dogged her, even in those days: confused dreams involving flashes of green light and once – Uncle Vernon had nearly crashed the car when Sophia had recounted it – a flying motorbike …**

"You dreamed about my motorbike," Sirius said, forcing his voice to sound normal, it wasn't so hard to do because he loved his bike a lot.

"Yeah," Sophia smiled. "It was a nice dream, too."

"I bet, what ever happened to my bike anyways," Sirius said turning to Remus.

"I'm not sure," Remus said.

"I believe Hagrid has it," Dumbledore said.

"Still, hm... I'm going to have to take to him about that," Sirius mumbled.

**There was a sudden, deafening roar from somewhere nearby.**

"Hm... it seems like I'm going to hear about my bike sooner than I thought," Sirius chuckled.

**Sophia straightened up with a jerk and smacked the top of her head on the low door frame. Pausing only to employ a few of Uncle Vernon's choicest swear words,**

"Don't swear Sophia." Mrs. Weasley said to a sheepish Sophia.

Fred and George seemed to not have the same thoughts as their mum as they snickered at her.

**"she staggered back into the kitchen, clutching her head and staring out of the window into the back garden.**

**The darkness seemed to be rippling, the air itself quivering. Then, one by one, figures began to pop into sight as their Disillusionment Charms lifted. Dominating the scene was Hagrid, wearing a helmet and goggles and sitting astride an enormous motorbike with a black sidecar attached.**

"Yep, that's it!" Sirius said excitedly and several people chuckled at his reaction.

**All around him other people were dismounting from brooms and, in two cases, skeletal, black winged horses.**

Sophia sat up straight and exclaimed, "What are those?"

They sounded just like the things that she had seen pulling the horseless carriages at Hogwarts. If they were in the Dursley backyard they couldn't be figments of her imaginations.

"Thestrals," Remus said.

"Oh," Hermione said excitedly. "I've read about them, you can't see them unless you have seen death..." she trailed off there because she was now looking at Sophia, understanding why she had shouted that question. Obviously she could see them now.

**Wrenching open the back door, Sophia hurtled into their midst. There was a general cry of greeting as Hermione flung her arms around her, Ron clapped her on the back, and Hagrid said, "All righ', Sophie? Ready fer the off?"**

"**Definitely," said Sophia, beaming around at them all. "But I wasn't expecting this many of you!"**

"**Change of plan," growled Mad-Eye, who was holding two enormous bulging sacks, and whose magical eye was spinning from darkening sky to house to garden with dizzying rapidity. "Let's get undercover before we talk you through it."**

**Sophia led them all back into the kitchen where, laughing and chattering, they settled on chairs, sat themselves upon Aunt Petunia's gleaming work surfaces, or leaned up against her spotless appliances; Ron, long and lanky; **

"Thanks mate." Ron said sarcastically.

"Well you are a bloody giant Ron." Sophia said making Hermione giggle.

**Hermione, her bushy hair tied back in a long plait; **

"Does it look better that way?" Hermione asked fingering her bushy hair.

"It probably looks tamer."

**Fred and George, grinning identically although her heart fluttered at the sight of only one;**

"Wait, what?" Nearly everyone said eyes wide while the twins' eyebrows shot up and if you looked closely you could see a slight hopeful look in George's eye.

"Oh my God." Sophia groaned, thumping her head on the table.

"So it's true?" Ron gaped like a fish. "You like my brother!"

Sophia stayed quiet, her face bright red.

"Which one?" Sirius grinned.

Sophia glared at him. "Shut up Sirius."

"I'm going to save Miss Potter some embarrassment, so I ask if you may please read on." McGonagall asked with a small smile.

**Bill, badly scarred and long-haired;**

"Scarred?" Molly gasped and looked at her eldest son's face as if she would see what the book was talking about. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Bill said, frowning. "It must have happened in the future."

**Mr. Weasley, kind-faced, balding, his spectacles a little awry;**

"Oh Molly would you look at that? I'm there too!" Arthur grinned, as she rolled her eyes.

**Mad-Eye, battle-worn, one-legged, his bright blue magical eye whizzing in its socket; Tonks, whose short hair was her favorite shade of bright pink; Remus, grayer, more lined; **

Remus grimaced slightly, but made no comment. Sirius smiled as he pecked his husband on the lips.

**Sirius, carelessly handsome;**

Sirius grinned while Remus smiled slightly, he couldn't help but agree with his husband's description.

**Fleur,**

"I'm there?" Fleur said, just as shocked as everyone else in the room. Then she seemed to have gathered herself and said, in her airy, confident way, "oh course I would want help Sophia any way I can. Though I am not sure how I would even have heard about something like this."

"Maybe that means things are still going well between us," Bill said smiling at her and Fleur blushed.

"I think I like the sound of that," she smiled back at him.

Molly, on the other hand, didn't like the sounds of that one bit.

"Why do I get the feeling that we're going to have to deal with a lot more Fleur in the future?" Ginny grumbled as she led around Ron to whisper to Hermione.

"She obviously there to help Sophia," Hermione whispered back, though clearly not liking the situation either, she was trying to keep an open mind about this.

**slender and beautiful, with her long silvery blonde hair; Kingsley, bald and broad-shouldered; **

Kingsley smiled at his description.

**Hagrid, with his wild hair and beard, standing hunchbacked to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling; and Mundungus Fletcher, small, dirty, and hangdog, with his droopy beady hound's eyes and matted hair. Sophia's heart seemed to expand and glow at the sight: She felt incredibly fond of all of them, even Mundungus, whom she had tried to strangle the last time they had met.**

"Why did I try and strangle him?" Sophia asked with an amused smile.

"If you don't know mate, none of us would," Fred chuckled.

"Though, him stealing something from you seems likely," Sirius added.

"**Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister?" she called across the room.**

"**She can get along without me for one night," said Kingsley, "You're more important."**

"**Sophia, guess what?" said Tonks from her perch on top of the washing machine, and she wiggled her left hand at him; a ring glistened there.**

Tonks beamed at the mention of the marriage and Kingsley was smiling, too.

"**You got married?" Sophia yelped, looking from her to Kingsley.**

"Hm... I'm the one that told you the news, look at me Sophia," Tonks pouted, or at least she tried to but she couldn't quite get the smile off her face.

"Sorry Tonks," Sophia chuckled at her expression.

"**I'm sorry you couldn't be there, Sophia, it was very quiet."**

"**That's brilliant, congrat –"**

"**All right, all right, we'll have time for a cozy catch-up later," roared Moody over the hubbub, and silence fell in the kitchen. Moody dropped his sacks at his feet and turned to Sophia. "As Dedalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He's made it an imprisonable offense to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, seeing as your mother's charm does that already. What he's really done is to stop you getting out of here safely."**

"**Second problem: You're underage, which means you've still got the Trace on you."**

"**I don't –"**

"You don't know anything at all do you Potter," Draco said.

Sophia glared at him and she wasn't the only one.

"I'm just saying that someone like you, should know the at least the basics of our world," Draco said.

"**The Trace, the Trace!" said Mad-Eye impatiently. "The charm that detects magical activity around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about underage magic! If you, or anyone around you, cast a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters."**

"**We can't wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen you'll lose all the protection your mother gave you. In short, Pius Thicknesse thinks he's got you cornered good and proper."**

**Sophia could not help but agree with the unknown Thicknesse.**

"Come on Sophia, we've got to have figured something out," Fred said.

"You shouldn't count us out so quickly," George added.

"**So what are we going to do?"**

"**We're going to use the only means of transport left to us, the only ones the Trace can't detect, because we don't need to cast spells to use them: brooms, Thestrals, and Hagrid's motorbike."**

**Sophia could see flaws in this plan; however, she held her tongue to give Mad-Eye the chance to address them.**

"**Now, your mother's charm will only break under two conditions: when you come of age, or" – Moody gestured around the pristine kitchen – "you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle are going your separate ways tonight, in the full understanding that you're never going to live together again, correct?"**

**Sophia nodded.**

"**So this time, when you leave, there'll be no going back, and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. We're choosing to break it early, because the alternative is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and seize you the moment you turn seventeen.**

"No, I don't like that plan," Sophia said muttered.

"**The one thing we've got on our side is that You-Know-Who doesn't know we're moving you tonight.**

"That's not true... and we don't know it," Molly said worried and Arthur tightened his grip on her.

Everyone in the room seemed to be affected by this statement and they were all worried about what was going to happen.

**We've leaked a fake trail to the Ministry: They think you're not leaving until the thirtieth. However, this is You-Know-Who we're dealing with, so we can't rely on him getting the date wrong; he's bound to have a couple of Death Eaters patrolling the skies in this general area, just in case. So, we've given a dozen different houses every protection we can throw at them. They all look like they could be the place we're going to hide you, they've all got some connection with the Order: my house, Kingsley's place, Molly's Auntie Muriel's – you get the idea."**

"**Yeah," said Sophia, not entirely truthfully, because she could still spot a gaping hole in the plan.**

"What's that?" Sirius said.

"Probably that it would be obvious where we are going when all fifteen of use are flying to wherever it is we're going," Sophia said, her eyes where anxious though and she was thinking about the title of this chapter.

"**You'll be going to Tonks' parents. Once you're within the boundaries of the protective enchantments we've put on their house you'll be able to use a Portkey to the Burrow. Any questions?"**

"**Er – yes," said Sophia. "Maybe they won't know which of the twelve secure houses I'm heading ****for at first, but won't it be sort of obvious once" – she performed a quick headcount – "fifteen of us fly off toward Tonks' parents?"**

"Hm... I think you might have been right about your guess Sophia," Sirius said thoughtfully.

"Idiot," Remus groaned shaking his head, thought several people were chuckling at Sirius joke.

"**Ah," said Moody, "I forgot to mention the key point. Fifteen of us won't be flying to Tonks' parents. There will be seven Sophia Potters moving through the skies tonight,**

"No!" Sophia said shaking her head. "No way!"

"Actually it seems like a good plan to me," Hermione said, biting her lip nervously, "it should be able to confuse the Death Eaters... it might be our only chance to get by them."

"But do you get how much more dangerous it would be, being me," Sophia said to her, pleading her to understand that she couldn't lose anyone else because they were trying to protect her.

"Yes I do know," Hermione said and she could see that she did, "but that's not going to stop us from helping you."

Sophia sighed and bowed her head; there was nothing else for her to do.

**each of them with a companion, each pair heading for a different safe house."**

**From inside his cloak Moody now withdrew a flask of what looked like mud. There was no need for him to say another word; Sophia understood the rest of the plan immediately.**

"**No!" she said loudly, her voice ringing through the kitchen. "No way!"**

"Merlin, I never would have guessed that she would react that way!" Fred said in a mock shocked voice.

"**I told them you'd take it like this," said Hermione with a hint of complacency.**

"Hermione," Sophia growled.

"**If you think I'm going to let six people risk their lives - !"**

"—**because it's the first time for all of us," said Ron.**

"**This is different, pretending to be me –"**

"**Well, none of us really fancy it, Sophia," said Fred earnestly. "Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever."**

"Thanks Fred." Sophia glared.

"What can I say; I'm funny, is that why you're in love with me?" Fred grinned.

"I'm not bloody in love with you Fred!"

"Oh so it IS George you love!" Fred grinned with glee noticing his twin's ears turn red.

"I hate you so much right now." Sophia spat, her face as red as a tomato.

"And I see you're not even denying it." Charlie grinned.

**Sophia did not smile.**

"**You can't do it if I don't cooperate; you need me to give you some hair."**

"**Well, that's the plan scuppered," said George. "Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate."**

**George couldn't help but flinch as she turned her glare on him. **

Sirius barked a laugh while George and Sophia blushed.

"**Yeah, fourteen of us against one bird who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance," said Fred.**

Several people were laughing at this.

"It's good to know that we don't lose any humor in the future," George chuckled.

"**Funny," said Sophia, "really amusing."**

"Glad you think so." Fred grinned.

"**If it has to come to force, then it will," growled Moody, his magical eye now quivering a little in its socket as he glared at Sophia. "Everyone here's overage, Potter, and they're all prepared to ****take the risk."**

**Mundungus shrugged and grimaced; the magical eye swerved sideways to glance at him out of the side of Moody's head.**

"I don't like that," Hermione mumbled, it seemed clear that he didn't want to be there.

"Nor do I," Dumbledore said, who knew that Mundungus would likely run at the first signs of danger.

"**Let's have no more arguments. Time's wearing on. I want a few of your hairs, girl, now."**

"**But this is mad, there's no need –"**

"**No need!" snarled Moody. "With You-Know-Who out there and half the Ministry on his side? Potter, if we're lucky he'll have swallowed the fake bait and he'll be planning to ambush you on the thirtieth, but he'd be mad not to have a Death Eater or two keeping an eye out, it's what I'd do. They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother's charm holds, but it's about to break and they know the rough position of the place. Our only chance is to use decoys. Even You-Know-Who can't split himself into seven."**

**Sophia caught Hermione's eye and looked away at once.**

Dumbledore's eyes widen slightly as he read this, so Sophia will know Horcruxes, he was sure of it. He was also sure that they fact that Sophia and Hermione looked at each other there told him what he has been trying to figure out of years now. Ever since Sophia had given him the diary and he had proof of what Voldemort had down and even more convincing proof that he had to have made more than one Horcruxes. So he had made seven of them!

"**So, Potter – some of your hair, if you please."**

**Sophia glanced at Ron, who grimaced at her in a just-do-it sort of way.**

"**Now!" barked Moody.**

"**Fine!" snapped Sophia. "Can you at least hand me the pair or scissors in the drawer."**

"Good idea, it hurts to just rip it out." Ginny nodded.

**Mad-Eye clunked over to the indicated drawer, and then he thrusted the scissors into her hand.**

**With all of their eyes on her, she cut a chunk out of her hair**

"**Good," said Moody, limping forward as he pulled the stopper out of the flask of potion.****"Straight in here, if you please."**

**Sophia dropped the hair into the mudlike liquid. The moment it made contact with its surface, the potion began to froth and smoke, then, all at once, it turned a clear, bright gold.**

"Huh?" Snape snorted in disbelief.

"What is it?" McGonagall asked him.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken that they color of the potion various with ever persons," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling at Sophia. "It is common belief thought that the closer the color is to gold, golden gold that is, the more pure of heart they are."

"That would make sense," Fred said.

"Little Sophiekins has always been an innocent little thing," George added.

"Shut up," Sophia hissed at them.

"**Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Sophia," said Hermione,**

"That's an interesting thing to say, Hermione," Fred said waggling his eyebrows.

"I won't mean it like that," Hermione said blushing.

"What do you mean by that?" Molly asked sharply. "It sounds as if you have actually seen what Crabbe and Goyle Polyjuice Potion would looks like, but you couldn't know that, right?"

"Well you see, we kind of do know that," Sophia said looking uncomfortable and worried. "In our second year."

"That really was you," Draco said. "I knew something was wrong but Crabbe and Goyle keep insisting that it was them... that nothing was wrong."

"They probably didn't want you to know that we stuffed them in a closet," Sophia said reasonably.

"You got that right," Draco grimaced, "I'm going to have to have a word with them about this."

"How did you even get Polyjuice Potion," Sirius asked. "We tried to order it in sixth year but no one would sell it to us... and seeing as none of us were very good in Potions"- Sirius glared at Remus there and the werewolf just rolled his eyes- "we had to give up the idea of pranking all the Slytherins in their own common room."

"We didn't get it anywhere, Hermione made it!" Ron said, smiling proudly at her.

"What?" several people said.

"DO YOU REALIAZE HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS YOU SILLY GIRL!" Snape shouted.

"We think that it was bloody brilliant!" the twins yelled at the same time glaring at Snape.

"It is rather impressive," Bill said looking astounded. "I can't believe a second year could do that!"

"It is an impressive feat," Remus smiled at her. "But I believe Snape as a point too. A Potion like that can have serious consequences if made incorrectly."

"I know Professor Lupin," Hermione sighed. "I just needed to do something... I wasn't really thinking clearly then."

"Well, it all ended well," Remus smiled. "And it's Remus remember."

"Right, sorry," Hermione smiled at him.

**before catching sight of Ron's raised eyebrows, blushing slightly, and saying, "Oh, you know what I mean – Goyle's potion tasted like bogies."**

"How would you know, you didn't taste that potion?" Sophia said.

"Yeah, didn't you um... turn into a cat or something?" Ron said with a mock thoughtful look, before laughing.

"Shut up!" Hermione said turning bright red as everyone in the room laughed.

"Did you really?" George asked.

"Is that why you missed classes after Christmas?" Fred asked, both laughing hysterically.

"Shut up!" Hermione repeated.

"**Right then, fake Potters line up over here, please," said Moody.**

**Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Fleur lined up in front of Aunt Petunia's gleaming sink.**

"**We're one short," said Remus.**

"**Here," said Hagrid gruffly, and he lifted Mundungus by the scruff of the neck and dropped him down beside Fleur, who wrinkled her nose pointedly and moved along to stand between Fred and George instead.**

"Ah, you don't have to do that... he doesn't bite," Sirius said to Fleur.

"He is not described like someone I would want to be around," Fleur said wrinkling her nose.

"**I'm a toldjer, I'd sooner be a protector," said Mundungus.**

"**Shut it," growled Moody. "As I've already told you, you spineless worm, any Death Eaters we run into will be aiming to capture Potter, not kill her.**

"Yeah, well that's not really a comforting thought," Sophia mumbled. "And I hate to see what they would do to anyone they caught that turned out not to be me..."

Everyone shivered at that.

**Dumbledore always said You-Know-Who would want to finish Potter in person. It'll be the protectors who have got the most to worry about; the Death Eaters will want to kill them."**

**Mundungus did not look particularly reassured, but Moody was already pulling half a dozen eggcup-sized glasses from inside his cloak, which he handed out, before pouring a little Polyjuice Potion into each one.**

"**Altogether, then …"**

**Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus drank. All of them gasped and grimaced as the potion hit their throats: At once, their features began to bubble and distort like hot wax. Hermione, Mundungus Ron, Fleur, Fred, and George were all shrinking;**

Sophia blushed. "I'm really not that short!"

**Everyone's hair got darker and longer and in Hermione's case, flatter.**

Hermione huffed, but smiled.

**Moody, quite unconcerned, was now loosening the ties of the large sacks he had brought with him. When he straightened up again, there were six Sophia Potters gasping and panting in front of him.**

**Fred and George turned to each other and said together, "Wow – we're identical!"**

Several people laughed at that and Sirius shouted, "Brilliant!"

"**I dunno, though, I think I'm still better-looking," said George, examining his reflection in the kettle.**

George and Sophia blushed making more people laugh.

"**Bah," said Fleur, checking herself in the microwave door, "Bill, don't look at me – I'm 'ideous."**

"You think I'm hideous," Sophia pouted.

"Of course not Sophia," Fleur said, "I just don't Bill want to like the look."

"Fair enough," Sophia chuckled along with others in the room.

"**Those whose clothes are a bit roomy, I've got smaller here," said Moody, indicating the first sack, "and vice versa. Don't forget the glasses, there's six pairs in the side pocket. And when you're dressed, there's luggage in the other sack."**

**"George, Fred and Ron, all three of you better close your eyes or so help me." Sophia threatened, and they all obliged.**

"What about Dung?" Sophia yelled at the book.

**"And Mundungus… Mundungus I don't want you to change my clothes at all. Tonks can you help me please?"**

**Tonks nodded and walked over. "What'cha need?"**

**"Help me change his err. My clothes please? I don't want him touching me, I think you understand why."**

**Tonks' eyes went wide and she nodded.**

"Thank you so much." Sophia said in relief.

"No problem what so ever Sophia." Tonks agreed whole heartedly.

**The real Sophia thought that this might just be the most bizarre thing she had ever seen, and she had seen some extremely odd things. She watched as the rest of her six doppelgangers rummaged in the sacks, pulling out sets of clothes, putting on glasses, stuffing their own things away, most with eyes shut**

**"I knew George was lying about that tattoo," said Hermione, looking down at her bare chest.**

"Oh my god!" Ginny yelled with a grin, at the two blushing teens.

"What the hell are you doing looking there?!" Sirius and Remus shouted in unison.

"I haven't! I swear!" George gulped scooting as far away from the angry two as he could.

**"Hermione!" yelled Sophia, looking over at Sirius and Remus whose hands were now in fists at their sides. She couldn't see their faces because they had both turned out of respect of her privacy, but she doubted either of them would have approved of what Hermione had just said.**

"Damn right I don't approve." They both muttered looking at George darkly.

**"'Sophia, your eyesight really ees awful," said Fleur as she put on glasses. **

"Er... yeah... that's why I wear glasses or contacts," Sophia said, her face still as red as a tomato.

**Once dressed, the fake Sophias took rucksacks and owl cages, each containing a stuffed snowy owl, from the second sack.**

"**Good," said Moody, as at last seven dressed, bespectacled, and luggage-laden Sophias faced him. "The pairs will be as follows: Mundungus will be traveling with me, by broom –"**

Dumbledore grimaced at that pairing, afraid for his old Auror's safety, though of course he would have feared for anyone that was partnered with Mundungus and Moody really was the most experience fighter there.

"**Why'm I with you?" grunted the Sophia nearest the back door.**

"**Because you're the one that needs watching, Sirius will be flying near us just in case" growled Moody, and sure enough, his magical eye did not waver from Mundungus as he continued, "Arthur and Fred –"**

"**I'm George," said the twin at whom Moody was pointing. "Can't you even tell us apart when we're Sophia?"**

"Fred! George! This is not the time to play your silly game!" Molly snapped at her son who were sniggering at what their book selves had just said, as where Sirius, Remus (though he looked like he was trying not to), Tonks, Sophia, Ron, Charlie and Bill.

"**Sorry, George –"**

"**I'm only yanking your wand, I'm Fred really –"**

"**Enough messing around!" snarled Moody. "The other one – George or Fred or whoever you are – you're with Remus."**

George's eyes went wide. "Do I have to be?" He gulped.

"I won't hurt you." Remus told him stiffly. "I take protecting people very seriously."

**"Miss Delacour –"**

"**I'm taking Fleur on a thestral," said Bill. "She's not that fond of brooms."**

"No, I'm not, though I don't know how I'm going to like flying on the thestral, I can't see it," Fleur said and added in her head, _at least not yet._

"Don't worry, I'll be there," Bill smiled reassuringly at her, and she couldn't help but feel better at that.

**Fleur walked over to stand beside him, giving him a soppy, slavish look that Sophia was immediately disturbed by.**

"Oh, I'm sure it looked good on you Sophia," Fred teased.

"**Miss Granger with Kingsley, again by thestral –"**

Hermione looked relieved that she wouldn't be flying on a broom but didn't know how she felt about flying on an invisible horse.

**Hermione looked reassured as she answered Kingsley's smile; Sophia knew that Hermione too lacked confidence on a broomstick.**

Hermione huffed at that comment.

"Was I wrong," Sophia asked, and smirked when she didn't say anything but instead glared at her. "Didn't think so."

"**Which leaves you and me, Ron!" said Tonks brightly, knocking over a mug tree as she wav****ed at him.**

**Ron did not look quite as pleased as Hermione.**

"That hurts Ron, that really hurts," Tonks pouted.

"You really don't have to worry mate, Tonks is brilliant," Charlie smiled, remembering all the trouble they use to get up to when they were at Hogwarts.

"**An' you're with me, Sophie. That all righ'?" said Hagrid, looking a little anxious.**

"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," Molly said.

"I would trust Hagrid with my life," Sophia said.

"Er... Sophia, you are trusting Hagrid with your life right then," Bill pointed out.

"And Molly, I think it's a good idea that Sophia is with Hagrid, they would less likely believe that the real Sophia would be with them," Remus said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I would think that Moody would be how they would think Sophia would be with and as Sirius is close to them probably even more," Tonks said, "then likely Kingsley..."

Ron shifted at this, and looked at Hermione nervously.

This look didn't go unnoticed by Molly, who was smiling at them. She had been expecting something to happen between those two for years now, but they were both so stubborn when it came to admitting their feelings... maybe this book will help with that.

"**We'll be on the bike, brooms an' thestrals can't take me weight, see. Not a lot o' room on the seat with me on it, though, so you'll be in the sidecar."**

"**That's great," said Sophia, not altogether truthfully.**

"**We think the Death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom," said Moody, who seemed to guess how Sophia was feeling. "Snape's had plenty of time to tell them everything about you he's never mentioned before, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, we're betting they'll choose one of the Potters who looks at home on a broomstick.**

"Hm... I didn't think of that, but that's true too," Tonks said.

**All right then," he went on, tying up the sack with the fake Potters' clothes in it and leading the way back to the door, "I make it three minutes until we're supposed to leave. No point locking the back door, it won't keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. Come on …"**

**Sophia hurried to gather her rucksack, Firebolt, and Hedwig's cage and followed the group to the dark back garden.**

**On every side broomsticks were leaping into hands; Hermione had already been helped up onto a great black thestral by Kingsley, Fleur onto the other by Bill. Hagrid was standing ready beside the motorbike, goggles on.**

"**Is this it? Is this Sirius's bike?"**

"Yup, the most almost bike ever," Sirius said proudly.

"Whatever you say, Sirius," Sophia rolled his eyes.

"**The very same," said Hagrid, beaming down at Sophia. "An' the last time yeh was on it, Sophie, I could fit yeh in one hand!"**

"Aw," most of the women said.

All the boys sniggered at that and Sophia blushed.

**Sophia could not help but feel a little humiliated as she got into the sidecar. It placed her several feet below everybody else. Ron smirked at the sight of her sitting there like a child in a bumper car but stopped short as he saw her glare. **

Sirius and Remus snorted as Sophia smirked at Ron, who swallowed.

**Sophia stuffed her rucksack and broomstick down by her feet and rammed Hedwig's cage between her knees. She was extremely uncomfortable.**

"**Arthur's done a bit o' tinkerin'," said Hagrid,**

"Arthur!" Molly exclaimed, glaring at her husband.

"I haven't done anything yet," Arthur said in a shaky voice, but Molly didn't stop glaring at him.

**quite oblivious to Sophia's discomfort. She settled herself astride the motorcycle, which creaked slightly and sank inches into the ground. "It's got a few tricks up its sleeves now. Tha' one was my idea." He pointed a thick finger at a purple button near the speedometer.**

Sophia swallowed, she wasn't sure she liked the sound of that.

**"Please be careful, Hagrid." said Mr. Weasley, who was standing beside them, holding his broomstick. "I'm still not sure that was advisable and it's certainly only to be used in emergencies."**

"Oh dear, I don't like the sound of that," Molly moaned, looking worried now, but every now and then she would glare at her husband.

**"All right, then." said Moody. "Everyone ready, please. I want us all to leave at exactly the same time or the whole point of the diversion's lost."**

**Everybody motioned their heads.**

**"Hold tight now, Ron," said Tonks, and Sophia saw Ron throw a forcing, guilty look at Kingsley before placing his hands on each side of her waist.**

"Aw... how cute, Ronnie boy is scared of you Kings," Sirius laughed making the Auror roll his eyes.

**Hagrid kicked the motorbike into life: It roared like a dragon, and the sidecar began to vibrate.**

"**Good luck, everyone," shouted Moody. "See you all in about an hour at the Burrow. On the count of three. One … two .. THREE."**

The tension in the room seemed to double in that one sentence, everyone had been trying not to worry about what they thought would come, but they found that that was difficult to do now.

**There was a great roar from the motorbike, and Sophia felt the sidecar give a nasty lurch. She was rising through the air fast, her eyes watering slightly, hair whipped back off her face. Around her brooms were soaring upward too; the long black tail of a thestral flicked past. Her legs, jammed into the sidecar by Hedwig's cage and her rucksack, were already sore and starting to go numb. So great was her discomfort that she almost forgot to take a last glimpse of number four Privet Drive. By the time she looked over the edge of the sidecar she could no longer tell which one it was.**

**And then, out of nowhere, out of nothing, they were surrounded. At least thirty hooded figures, suspended in midair, formed a vast circle in the middle of which the Order members had risen, oblivious –**

"NO!" several people cried, and everyone was now even tenser than before.

**Screams, a blaze of green light on every side:**

"NO!" another round of screaming.

Sophia pitching the bridge of her nose, was praying that everyone else would be safe. She didn't want anyone else to die for her.

**Hagrid gave a yell and the motorbike rolled over. Sophia lost any sense of where they were. Streetlights above her, yells around her, she was clinging to the sidecar for dear life. Hedwig's cage, the Firebolt, and her rucksack slipped from beneath her knees –**

**"No – HELP!"**

**The broomstick spun too, but she just managed to seize the strap of her rucksack and the top of the cage as the motorbike swung the right way up again. A second's relief, and then another burst of green light. The owl screeched and fell to the floor of the cage.**

"No... Hedwig," Sophia moaned. She had so many other things... people to worry about... But she couldn't stand losing her... she was her only friend when was stuck at the Dursleys and she always do her best to cheer her up when she was down.

**"No – NO!"**

**The motorbike zoomed forward; Sophia glimpsed hooded Death Eaters scattering as Hagrid blasted through their circle.**

**"Hedwig –****_Hedwig_****–"**

The call was like a pang to Sophia's heart, and she flinched when she heard it.

**But the owl lay motionless and pathetic as a toy on the floor of her cage. She could not take it in, and her terror for the others was paramount. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a mass of people moving, flares of green light, two pairs of people on brooms soaring off into the distance, but she could not tell who they were –**

**"Hagrid, we've got to go back, we've got to go back!"**

"No!" Another round of yelling this time they were all looking at Sophia, who, with tear stain eyes, looked back at them defiantly.

**she yelled over the thunderous roar of the engine, pulling out her wand, ramming Hedwig's cage into the floor, refusing to believe that she was dead. "Hagrid, TURN AROUND!"**

**"My job's ter get you there safe, Sophie!" bellow Hagrid, and he opened the throttle.**

"Good Hagrid," several people said and Sophia scowled, but she knew there really was no going back... it was just hard to hear. Hard to know that she can't help her friends.

**"Stop – STOP!" Sophia shouted, but as she looked back again two jets of green light flew past her left ear: Four Death Eaters had broken away from the circle and were pursuing them, aiming for Hagrid's broad back. Hagrid swerved, but the Death Eaters were keeping up with the bike; more curses shot after them, and Sophia had to sink low into the sidecar to avoid them. Wriggling around she cried, "**_**Stupefy!" **_**and a red bolt of light shot from she own wand, cleaving a gap between the four pursuing Death Eaters as they scattered to avoid it.**

**"Hold on, Sophia, this'll do for 'em!" roared Hagrid, and Sophia looked up just in time to see Hagrid slamming a thick finger into a green button near the fuel gauge.**

**A wall, a solid black wall, erupted out of the exhaust pipe.**

"Well that's new," Sirius blinked.

"Hopefully that will slow them down," Remus said softly he was looking pale at the moment, and his arms where wrapped around Sirius comfortingly.

**Craning her neck, Sophia saw it expand into being in midair. Three of the Death Eaters swerved and avoided it, but the fourth was not so lucky; He vanished from view and then dropped like a boulder from behind it, his broomstick broken into pieces. One of his fellows slowed up to save him, but they and the airborne wall were swallowed by darkness as Hagrid leaned low over the handlebars and sped up.**

**More Killing Curses flew past Sophia's head from the two remaining Death Eaters' wands; they were aiming for Hagrid. Sophia responded with further Stunning Spells: Red and green collided in midair in a shower of multicolored sparks, and Sophia thought wildly of fireworks, and the Muggles below who would have no idea what was happening –**

"Sophia! Don't think of things like that at time like this!" Remus snapped at her anxiously.

**"Here we go again, Sophie, hold on!" yelled Hagrid, and he jabbed at a second button. This time a great net burst from the bike's exhaust, but the Death Eaters were ready for it. Not only did they swerve to avoid it, but the companion who had slowed to save their unconscious friend had caught up. He bloomed suddenly out of the darkness and now three of them were pursuing the motorbike, all shooting curses after it.**

**"This'll do it, Sophie, hold on tight!" yelled Hagrid, and Sophia saw him slam his whole hand onto the purple button beside the speedometer.**

"Oh bugger, I how it works whatever it is," Arthur said, nervously.

**With an unmistakable bellowing roar, dragon fire burst from the exhaust, white-hot and blue, and the motorbike shot forward like a bullet with a sound of wrenching metal.**

"Not bad," Charlie said. "That will really speed things up."

**Sophia saw the Death Eaters swerve out of sight to avoid the deadly trail of flame, and at the same time felt the sidecar sway ominously: Its metal connections to the bike had splintered with the force of acceleration.**

"Okay, maybe it is bad," Charlie said paling.

**"It's all righ', Sophie!" bellowed Hagrid, now thrown flat onto the back by the surge of speed; nobody was steering now, and the sidecar was starting to twist violently in the bike's slipstream.**

**"I'm on it, Sophie, don' worry!" Hagrid yelled, and from inside his jacket pocket he pulled his flowery pink umbrella.**

"NO!" several people yelled.

**"Hagrid! No! Let me!"**

**_"REPARO!"_**

**There was a deafening bang and the sidecar broke away from the bike completely. Sophia sped forward, propelled by the impetus of the bike's flight, then the sidecar began to lose height –**

**In desperation Sophia pointed her wand at the sidecar and shouted,****_"Wingardium Leviosa!"_**

Sophia, Ron and Hermione couldn't help but looking at each other and smiling at that; thinking about their first adventure together.

"Good idea," Arthur said, "but now you'll be a sitting goose."

"Er... duck," Hermione corrected automatically.

**The sidecar rose like a cork, unsteerable but at least still airborne. She had but a split second's relief, however, as more curses streaked past her: The three Death Eaters were closing in.**

**"I'm comin', Sophie!" Hagrid yelled from out of the darkness, but Sophia could feel the sidecar beginning to sink again: Crouching as low as she could, she pointed at the middle of the oncoming figures and yelled,****_"Impedimenta!"_**

"That will stop the levitating charm," Bill said.

"You'll start falling again," Remus added.

"I had to defend myself," Sophia said, and that was true enough, so no one argued.

**The jinx hit the middle Death Eater in the chest;**

"Nice shot Soph!" Sirius said.

**For a moment the man was absurdly spread-eagled in midair as though he had hit an invisible barrier: One of his fellows almost collided with him –**

**Then the sidecar began to fall in earnest, and the remaining Death Eater shot a curse so close to Sophia that she had to duck below the rim of the car, knocking out a tooth on the edge of her seat –**

**"I'm comin', Sophie, I'm comin'!"**

**A huge hand seized the back of Sophia's robes and hoisted her out of the plummeting sidecar; Sophia pulled her rucksack with her as she dragged herself onto the motorbike's seat and found herself back-to-back with Hagrid. As they soared upward, away from the two remaining Death Eaters, Sophia spat blood out of her mouth, pointed her wand at the falling sidecar, and yelled,****_"Confringo!"_**

"Smart move," Bill said, but Sophia face looked pained at that for some reason.

**Sh****e knew a dreadful, gut-wrenching pang for Hedwig as it exploded;**

And now Bill knew why.

**the Death Eater nearest it was blasted off his broom and fell from sight; his companion fell back and vanished.**

**"Sophie, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," moaned Hagrid, "I shouldn'ta tried ter repair it me self – yeh've got no room –"**

**"It's not a problem, just keep flying!" Sophia shouted back, as two more Death Eaters emerged out of the darkness, drawing closer.**

**As the curses came shooting across the intervening space again, Hagrid swerved and zigzagged: Sophia knew that Hagrid did not dare use the dragon-fire button again, with Sophia seated so insecurely. Sophia sent Stunning Spell after Stunning Spell back at their pursuers, barely holding them off. She shot another blocking jinx at them: The closest Death Eater swerved to avoid it and his hood slipped, and by the red light of his next Stunning Spell, Sophia saw the strangely blank face of Stanley Shunpike – Stan –**

"What?" Sophia said. "Why would he be there?"

"I don't know," Dumbledore frowned. "But it sounds like he might be Imperius."

**_"Expelliarmus!" _****Sophia yelled.**

"Sophia, that wasn't a smart move," Remus said and several other people were frowning.

"Why not... if he's being Imperius, how could I curse him?" Sophia said.

"You could stun..." Remus started to say.

"The fall could kill him... and I doubt any of the Death Eaters would bother trying to save some they're controlling," Sophia huffed.

"Perhaps not, but I still wish you had used a different spell," Remus groaned. "After what had happened last June..."

Sophia flinched at the remainder of that and Remus looked guilty at bringing that up.

**"That's her, it's her, it's the real one!"**

"That's what I was afraid of," Remus sighed as other people in the room groaned.

**The hooded Death Eater's shout reached Sophia even above the thunder of the motorbike's engine: Next moment, both pursuers had fallen back and disappeared from view.**

**"Sophie, what's happened?" bellowed Hagrid. "Where've they gone?"**

**"I don't know!"**

**But Sophia was afraid: The hooded Death Eater had shouted, "It's the real one!" how had he known? She gazed around at the apparently empty darkness and felt its menace. Where were they?**

**She clambered around on the seat to face forward and seized hold of the back of Hagrid's jacket.**

**"Hagrid, do the dragon-fire thing again, let's get out of here!"**

"Oh dear, I don't like that," Molly fretted.

"No, I agree with Sophia, they have to get out of there as quickly as possible," Arthur said.

**"Hold on tight, then, Sophie!"**

**There was a deafening, screeching roar again and the white-blue fire shot from the exhaust: Sophia felt herself slipping backwards off what little of the seat she had. Hagrid flung backward upon her, barely maintaining his grip on the handlebars –**

**"I think we've lost 'em Sophie, I think we've done it!" yelled Hagrid.**

**But Sophia was not convinced; Fear lapped at her as she looked left and right for pursuers she was sure would come. . . . Why had they fallen back? One of them had still had a wand. . . .**_**It's her**_**. . . **_**it's the real one**_**. . . . They had said it right after she had tried to Disarm Stan. . . .**

**"We're nearly there, Sophie, we've nearly made it!" shouted Hagrid.**

**Sophia felt the bike drop a little, though the lights down on the ground still seemed remote as stars.**

**Then the scar on her forehead burned like fire:**

"No!"

**as a Death Eater appeared on either side of the bike, two Killing Curses missed Sophia by millimeters, cast from behind –**

Several people gasped at that.

**And then Sophia saw him. Voldemort was flying like smoke on the wind, without broomstick or thestral to hold him, his snake-like face gleaming out of the blackness, his white fingers raising his wand again –**

**Hagrid let out a bellow of fear and steered the motorbike into a vertical dive. Clinging on for dear life, Sophia sent Stunning Spells flying at random into the whirling night. She saw a body fly past her and knew she had hit one of them, but then she heard a bang and saw sparks from the engine; the motorbike spiraled through the air, completely out of control –**

**Green jets of light shot past them again. Sophia had no idea which way was up, which down: Her scar was still burning; she expected to die at any second. A hooded figure on a broomstick was feet from her; she saw it raise its arm –**

**"NO!"**

**With a shout of fury Hagrid launched himself off the bike at the Death Eater;**

"NO!" Sophia shouted. "Hagrid!"

Several other people were shouting, and some were now crying.

"Don't worry," Sirius said to his goddaughter, "if anyone can survive a fall like that it would be Hagrid... he's tough."

"But..." Sophia started.

"He'll be okay," Sirius assured her and tried to keep his face for showing any of the fear and concern he was feeling.

**to her horror, Sophia saw both Hagrid and the Death Eater, falling out of sight, their combined weight too much for the broomstick –**

**Barely gripping the plummeting bike with her knees, Sophia heard Voldemort scream, "****_Mine!_****"**

**It was over: She could not see or hear where Voldemort was; she glimpsed another Death Eater swooping out of the way and heard, "**_**Avada –"**_

"NO!" another round of painful screaming, and Sirius abruptly stood up and pulled Sophia onto his lap making her roll her eyes. Remus grabbed her hand tightly as she got comfortable.

**As the pain from Sophia's scar forced her eyes shut, her wand acted of its own accord. She felt it drag her hand around like some great magnet, saw a spurt of golden fire through her half-closed eyelids, heard a crack and a scream of fury.**

"What?" several people whispered and Dumbledore looking thoughtful, but he kept reading.

**The remaining Death Eater yelled; Voldemort screamed, "****_NO!_****" Somehow, Sophia found her nose an inch from the dragon-fire button. She punched it with her wand-free hand and the bike shot more flames into the air, hurtling straight toward the ground.**

**"Hagrid!" Sophia called, holding on to the bike for dear life. "Hagrid –**_**Accio Hagrid!**_**"**

"Hagrid is too big... that will only make you go to him faster," McGonagall said worried.

"Getting away from that creep faster sounds like a good idea to me," Fred pointed out.

**The motorbike sped up, sucked towards the earth. Face level with the handlebars, Sophia could see nothing but distant lights growing nearer and nearer: She was going to crash and there was nothing she could do about it. Behind her came another scream,****_"Your wand, Selwyn, give me your wand!"_**

**She felt Voldemort before she saw him. Looking sideways, she stared into the red eyes and was sure they would be the last thing she ever saw: Voldemort preparing to curse her once more –**

**And then Voldemort vanished.**

"What... how did he vanished?" Molly said.

"I believe they are inside the protection now," Dumbledore said.

**Sophia looked down and saw Hagrid spread-eagled on the ground below her. She pulled hard at the handlebars to avoid hitting him, groped for the brake, but with an earsplitting, ground trembling crash, she smashed into a muddy pond.**

"That is the end of the chapter," Dumbledore said and Charlie, the closest person to Dumbledore, took the book and started reading immediately.


	5. Chapter 5: Fallen Warrior

**Disclaimer: Do Not Own**

* * *

"**Fallen Warrior,"**Charlie read and everyone groaned at that.

Dumbledore frowned at that again thinking of his old friend. If anyone was to be called a warrior, he would be.

**"Hagrid?"**

**Sophia struggled to raise herself out of the debris of metal and leather that surrounded her; her hands sank into inches of muddy water as she tried to stand. She could not understand where Voldemort had gone and expected him to swoop out of the darkness at any moment.**

"Don't worry Sophia, you're safe for now," Sirius reassured her holding her tightly to him.

"Er... I'll try to remember that," Sophia tried to smile at her godfather but couldn't quite manage it... she didn't like the sound of this chapter. If anyone died because of her...

**Something hot and wet was trickling down her chin and from her forehead. She crawled out of the pond and stumbled toward the great dark mass on the ground that was Hagrid.**

**"Hagrid? Hagrid, talk to me –"**

**But the dark mass did not stir.**

Sophia started to breath heavily as she thought; _not Hagrid!_

**"Who's there? Is it Potter? Are you Sophia Potter?"**

**Sophia did not recognize the man's voice. Then a woman shouted. "They've crashed. Ted! Crashed in the garden!"**

"Well at least you really made it to my house," Tonks said.

**Sophia's head was swimming.**

**"Hagrid," she repeated stupidly, and her knees buckled.**

**The next thing she knew, she was lying on her back on what felt like cushions, with a burning sensation in her ribs and right arm. Her missing tooth had been regrown. The scar on her forehead was still throbbing.**

Sophia dimly mused about her scar and how it was still going to be bothering her like this in two years but she was still too worried to give it much thought.

**"Hagrid?"**

**She opened her eyes and saw that she was lying on a sofa in an unfamiliar, lamplit sitting room. Her rucksack lay on the floor a short distance away, wet and muddy. A fair-haired, big-bellied man was watching Sophia anxiously.**

"Hm... I wonder if that means Dad is going to let himself go even more in the future," Tonks muttered much to Sirius' amusement.

**"Hagrid's fine, hun,"**

There was a collective sigh of relief at that announcement.

**said the man, "the wife's seeing to him now. How are you feeling? Anything else broken? I've fixed your ribs, your tooth, and your arm. I'm Ted, by the way, Ted Tonks – Dora's father."**

"Ah, so you're Dora," Fred said.

"No, I'm Tonks," she said glaring at Fred.

"Well, your dad just called you Dora..." George said.

"Well he can't very well call me Tonks, now came he," Tonks snapped back at them.

"I don't know what your problem is," Fred said.

"Dora is a... _fine_ name," George said pausing to think before he said fine with a chuckle.

Tonks narrowed her eyes at them and hissed out, "if I hear anyone calling me Dora, I won't be held accountable for what happens to them."

**Sophia sat up too quickly. Lights popped in front of her eyes and she felt sick and giddy.**

**"Voldemort –"**

**"Easy, now," said Ted Tonks, placing a hand on Sophia's shoulder and pushing her back against the cushions. "That was a nasty crash you just had. What happened, anyway? Something go wrong with the bike? Arthur Weasley overstretch himself again, him and his Muggle contraptions?"**

"There was nothing wrong with the bike," Arthur pouted at that as Molly glared at him and his children all sniggered.

**"No," said Sophia, as her scar pulsed like an open wound. "Death Eaters, loads of them – we were chased –"**

**"Death Eaters?" said Ted sharply. "What d'you mean, Death Eaters? I thought they didn't know you were being moved tonight, I thought –"**

**"They knew," said Sophia.**

**Ted Tonks looked up at the ceiling as though he could see through it to the sky above.**

"Cool, is it like the Great Hall's ceiling," Sirius said.

Tonks looked at him incredulously, "you've been there Sirius, and you know it's not."

"Then..." Sirius started.

"He wasn't looking through it," Tonks huffed and then motioned for Charlie to keep reading.

**"Well, we know our protective charms hold, then, don't we? They shouldn't be able to get within a hundred yards of the place in any direction."**

**Now Sophia understood why Voldemort had vanished; it had been at the point when the motorbike crossed the barrier of the Order's charms. She only hoped they would continue to work: She imagined Voldemort, a hundred yards above them as they spoke, looking for a way to penetrate what Sophia visualized as a great transparent bubble.**

"Interesting theory," Dumbledore said looking amused making Sophia flush and Sirius bark a laugh while still holding her tightly to him.

**She swung her legs off the sofa; she needed to see Hagrid with her own eyes before she would believe that he was alive. She had barely stood up, however, when a door opened and Hagrid squeezed through it, his face covered in mud and blood, limping a little but miraculously alive.**

Sophia smiled at this; he was okay, though this just made her more anxious to hear about the others.

**"Sophie!"**

**Knocking over two delicate tables and an aspidistra, he covered the floor between them in two strides and pulled Sophia into a hug that nearly cracked her newly repaired ribs. "Blimey, Sophie, how did yeh get out o' that? I thought we were both goners."**

"Yeah well, you should know that Sophia has more lives than a cat," Fred chuckled.

"Well, I think that depends on what you consider life threatening events," George said thoughtful to his twin. "Are you counting the time she fell off his broom or just the major things...?"

"Oh shut up," Sophia muttered although she was still nervous about talking to George since the whole-chest tattoo ordeal.

**"Yeah, me too. I can't believe –"**

**Sophia broke off. She had just noticed the woman who had entered the room behind Hagrid.**

**"You!" she shouted,**

"Hey, don't shout at my mum!" Tonks huffed.

"Yeah, Andy hasn't done anything to you!" Sirius added laughing silently from above her.

"Er... sorry," Sophia said, shakily.

**and she thrust her hand into her pocket, but it was empty.**

**"Your wand's here, hun," said Ted, tapping it on Sophia's arm. "It fell right beside you, I picked it up…And that's my wife you're shouting at."**

**"Oh, I'm – I'm sorry."**

**As she moved forward into the room, Mrs. Tonks' resemblance to her sister Bellatrix became much less pronounced:**

"She doesn't look anything like that bitch!" Sirius growled this time.

"Sorry," Sophia repeated, not sure what else she could do.

"That's not exactly true... my mum once showed me a picture of the three of them and they looked similar to me," surprisingly Draco said.

"I didn't think your mum would have any pictures of mine," Tonks said. "Let alone show it to you."

Draco just shrugged at that.

**Her hair was a light soft brown and her eyes were wider and kinder. Nevertheless, she looked a little haughty after Sophia's exclamation.**

"I'm sure Mum knew what you were thinking... and she doesn't like being reminded of that," Tonks chuckled. "But don't worry Soph, she's really nice."

"As long as you don't take her sugar quills," Charlie said and Tonks snorted and the two of them started laughing.

"Er... I think I'm missing something," Sirius said looking like he really wanted to know what they were talking about.

"Sorry, you had to be there," Tonks laughed.

"I just hope you didn't do anything that I would be ashamed of," Molly said sharply and Charlie tried to give her his best innocent face, though it was ruin by his barely concealed smirk.

**"What happened to our daughter?" she asked. "Hagrid said you were ambushed; where is Nymphadora?"**

"Ah Mom," Tonks moaned at the use of her first name.

**"I don't know," said Sophia. "We don't know what happened to anyone else."**

**She and Ted exchanged looks. A mixture of fear and guilt gripped Sophia at the sight of their expressions, if any of the others had died; it was her fault, all her fault.**

"It's not your fault!" Hermione hissed as she threw a book towards Sirius and Sophia.

"Ow," Sophia said rubbing her arm, "I haven't done this yet."

"Watch it Hermione, I'm here too." Sirius said, looking annoyed but waved off her apologetic expression.

**She had consented to the plan, given them her hair . . .**

"If that's all you got, you're daft!" Fred said.

"Yeah, it's not like we wouldn't have just taken your hair whether you liked it or not!" George added.

**"The Portkey," she said, remembering all of a sudden. "We've got to get back to the Burrow and find out – then we'll be able to send you word, or – or Tonks will, once she's –"**

**"Dora'll be okay, 'Dromeda," said Ted. "She knows her stuff; she's been in plenty of tight spots with the Aurors. The Portkey's through here," he added to Sophia. "It's supposed to leave in three minutes, if you want to take it."**

**"Yeah, we do," said Sophia. She seized her rucksack, swung it onto her shoulders. "I –"**

**She looked at Mrs. Tonks, wanting to apologize for the state of fear in which she left her and for which she felt so terribly responsible, but no words occurred to her that she did not seem hollow and insincere.**

"I don't think you could say anything to her at that moment," Molly said and she was biting her lips; what was she going to hear in this chapter. Four of her children... Arthur... what might have happened to them. Then there was Hermione, who she almost thought of as a daughter... And Sirius and Remus… And Tonks and Kingsley... Oh, she couldn't stand not knowing, but she was afraid of what she was going to hear.

**"I'll tell Tonks – Dora – to send word, when she . . . Thanks for patching us up, thanks for everything, I –"**

**She was glad to leave the room and follow Ted Tonks along a short hallway and into a bedroom. Hagrid came after them, bending low to avoid hitting his head on the door lintel.**

**"There you go, hun. That's the Portkey."**

**Mr. Tonks was pointing to a small, silver-backed hairbrush lying on the dressing table.**

"That's my favorite brush though." Tonks complained lightly.

"Why do you need a brush? You don't need one." Ron asked

"Well why do you have a pocket full of sugar quills."

"Because I like eating them?" Ron blinked.

"Well, I enjoy brushing my hair sometimes." Tonks shrugged.

**"Thanks," said Sophia, reaching out to place a finger on it, ready to leave.**

**"Wait a moment," said Hagrid, looking around. "Sophie, where's Hedwig?"**

Sophia grimaced at that and Sirius squeezed her tighter to him, knowing how close she was to her owl.

**"She . . . she got hit," said Sophia.**

**The realization crashed over her: She felt ashamed of herself as the tears stung her eyes.**

Draco snorted at that and several people glared at him, but Sophia didn't look up.

**The owl had been her companion, her one great link with the magical world whenever she had been forced to return to the Dursleys.**

**Hagrid reached out a great hand and patted her on the shoulder.**

**"Never mind," he said gruffly, "Never mind. She had a great old life –"**

**"Hagrid!" said Ted Tonks warningly, as the hairbrush glowed bright blue, and Hagrid only just got his forefinger to it in time.**

**With a jerk behind the navel as though an invisible hook and line had dragged her forward, Sophia was pulled into nothingness, spinning uncontrollably, her finger glued to the Portkey as she and Hagrid hurtled away from Mr. Tonks. Second later, Sophia's feet slammed onto hard ground and she fell onto her hands and knees in the yard of the Burrow. She heard screams.**

"Oh no... what is it?" Molly gasped.

"I think it's probably you dear," Arthur said soothingly and she relaxed... a little.

**Throwing aside the no longer glowing hairbrush, Sophia stood up, swaying slightly, and saw Mrs. Weasley and Ginny running down the steps by the back door as Hagrid, who had also collapsed on landing, clambered laboriously to his feet.**

**"Sophia? You are the real Sophia? What happened? Where are the others?" cried Mrs. Weasley.**

"Oh no." Many whispered in unison.

**"What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" Sophia panted.**

Almost everyone groaned and the tension in the room got a lot thicker.

**The answer was clearly etched in Mrs. Weasley's pale face.**

**"The Death Eaters were waiting for us," Sophia told her, "We were surrounded the moment we took off – they knew it was tonight – I don't know what happened to anyone else, four of them chased us, it was all we could do to get away, and then Voldemort caught up with us –"**

**She could hear the self-justifying note in her voice, the plea for her to understand why she did not know what had happened to her sons, but –**

"Oh Sophia, I know that," Molly said trying to sound soothing but she was too worried about what was going to happen to pull it off.

**"Thank goodness you're all right," she said, pulling her into a hug she did not feel she deserved.**

"You don't have to do anything to deserve a hug form me, I worry about you just as must as I do the rest of my children," Molly said.

Sophia looked at her, not sure what to say, but she hoped the thankful smile she gave her told her how much that meant to him.

**"Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" asked Hagrid**

Charlie snorted at that. "Typical Hagrid."

The Weasley boys and Sirius all laughed at that.

**a little shakily, "Fer medicinal purposes?"**

"Yeah... I believe that one," Fred said sarcastically.

**She could have summoned it by magic, but as she hurried back toward the crooked house, Sophia knew that she wanted to hide her face. She turned to Ginny and she answered her unspoken plea for information at once.**

**"Ron and Tonks should have been back first,**

Hermione gasped there and gripped Ron's hand reflexively. She blushed when she realized what she had done... she was holding Ron's hand! Still, she couldn't make herself let go like she normal would have, always having to shy away from any form of contact with Ron in case he found out how she felt. However, right now, she needed to hold his hand... friends can hold hands when they think that said friend was in life threatening danger... right?

Ron stare down at their hands as his heart rate started to pick up. _She's just worried about you... it doesn't mean anything_, he told himself, but that didn't stop his ears from turning red.

Sophia stiffened immediately after hearing Ron's name and she felt her heart hammer in her chest. As much as it would kill her if any of the people got hurt or kill, it would be a hundred times worst if it was either Ron or Hermione.

Molly lip trembled at this and she leaned against Arthur.

**but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them," she said, pointing at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," she pointed at an ancient sneaker, "should have been Dad and Fred's,**

"No," Molly moaned, not more of her family she had to worry about.

George now shot Fred a worried glance.

**they were supposed to be second. You and Hagrid were third and," she checked her watch, "if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back in about a minute."**

**Mrs. Weasley reappeared carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it straight down in one.**

**"Mum!" shouted Ginny**

"Oh there's no point on tattling on Hagrid," Fred teased, "I'm sure Mum saw him drink it all too."

"As if I would have cared," Ginny said, she could see her brothers bravely trying to keep his light and carefree mood and she tried to follow him.

**pointing to a spot several feet away.**

**A blue light had appeared in the darkness: It grew larger and brighter, and Remus and George appeared, spinning and then falling.**

"Oh good," Molly sighed in relief that one of her son's where back. Sophie looked over at George and sighed in relief. She did like him a lot and that was made clear in the book.

**Sophia knew immediately that there was something wrong:**

This made both Molly and Sophia tense.

**Remus was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood.**

Charlie's voice shook as he read this.

"No, Georgie!" Molly moaned and she could feel Arthur's grip on her tighten.

Fred was the one that was looking worried at his twin now.

Sophia got up from her spot on Sirius' lap and sat down next to George gripping his hand tightly.

**Sophia and Ginny ran forward and seized George's legs together to help Remus carry him.**

George, trying to make the best out of the situation, decided to make a joke.

"So Lupes, you needed the help of some scrawny girls?"

"Did you just call me 'Lupes'?" Remus asked fighting off a smile.

"And I'm not scrawny." Ginny huffed. "Just because Sophia is doesn't mean I am!"

"Ginny!" Sophia growled

**Together, they carried George into the house and through the kitchen to the sitting room, where they laid him on the sofa. As the lamplight fell across George's head, Ginny gasped and Sophia's stomach lurched; **

Charlie face turn sickly green as he read the next line.

**One of George's ears was missing.**

Several people groaned and everyone winched.

Molly got up and wrapped her arms around George as Fred looked at his brother, his face white.

Sophia moved back in between Remus and Sirius to give them privacy but George wanted her to stay close to him.

"You lost an ear," Fred mumbled in disbelieve.

"It looks like," George said, his voice muffled because his mum was hugging him so tightly that it was hard for him to breathe. "It looks like we can't use our favorite joke anymore..."

Fred lips twitched upwards at that but he couldn't manage to say anything at the moment.

**The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.**

Everyone in the room winced slightly at this.

**No sooner had Mrs. Weasley bent over her son that Remus grabbed Sophia by the upper arm and dragged her, none too gently, back into the kitchen,**

"What's your problem Remus!" Sirius snapped at his husband.

"Er..." was all Remus could say about that.

"I believe that he is worried that Sophia might not really be Sophia," Dumbledore said reasonably.

**where Hagrid was still attempting to ease his bulk through the back door.**

**"Oi!" said Hagrid indignantly, "Le' go of her! Le' go of Sophie!"**

**Remus ignored him.**

**"What creature sat in the corner the first time that Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts?" he said, giving Sophia a small shake. "Answer me!"**

"You don't have to be so rough with her," Molly mumbled, she was still numb about hearing what will happen to George so she couldn't yell, but she couldn't not defend Sophia either.

"Sorry," Remus said. "I have problems controlling myself when I'm extremely worried or angry..."

**"A – a grindylow in a tank, wasn't it?"**

**Remus released Sophia and fell back against a kitchen cupboard.**

**"Wha' was tha' about?" roared Hagrid.**

**"I'm sorry, Sophia, but I had to check," said Remus tersely. "We've been betrayed. Voldemort knew that you were being moved tonight and the only people who could have told him were directly involved in the plan. You might have been an impostor."**

**"So why aren' you checkin' me?" panted Hagrid, still struggling with the door.**

**"You're half-giant," said Remus, looking up at Hagrid. "The Polyjuice Potion is designed for human use only."**

"Which is probably one of the reasons why he was chosen for this mission," Remus muttered.

"That, and there's no way that Hagrid wouldn't be there to help Sophia in something like this," Sirius said.

"Yes, there is that, too," Remus allowed, almost smiling, but couldn't quite manage it.

**"None of the Order would have told Voldemort we were moving tonight," said Sophia. The idea was dreadful to her; she could not believe it of any of them. "Voldemort only caught up with me toward the end, he didn't know which one I was in the beginning. If he'd been in on the plan he'd have known from the start I was the one with Hagrid."**

"Excellent point," Dumbledore beamed at Sophia.

**"Voldemort caught up with you?" said Remus sharply. "What happened? How did you escape?"**

**Sophia explained how the Death Eaters pursuing them had seemed to recognize her as the true Sophia, how they had abandoned the chase, how they must have summoned Voldemort, who had appeared just before she and Hagrid had reached the sanctuary of Tonks' parents.**

**"They recognized you? But how? What had you done?"**

**"I . . ." Sophia tried to remember; the whole journey seemed like a blur of panic and confusion. "I saw Stan Shunpike . . . . You know the bloke who was the conductor on the Knight Bus? And I tried to Disarm him instead of – well, he doesn't know what he's doing, does he? He must be Imperiused!"**

Remus grimaced at that, along with several of the other people in the room.

"Seriously Potter," Draco said, "it was a life and death situation... he wouldn't have hesitated to kill you."

"That doesn't mean I should kill him," Sophia snapped back.

"Suit yourself, but that will probably only get you killed in the end," Draco shrugged.

"We'll see about that," Sophia huffed.

**Remus looked aghast.**

**"Sophia, the time for Disarming is past! These people are trying to capture and kill you! At least stun if you aren't prepared to kill!"**

**"We were hundreds of feet up! Stan's not himself, and if I Stunned him and he'd fallen, he'd have died the same as if I'd used Avada Kedavra! Expelliarmus saved me from Voldemort two years ago," Sophia added defiantly. Remus was reminding her of the sneering Hufflepuff Zacharias Smith, who had jeered at Sophia for wanting to teach Dumbledore's Army how to Disarm.**

"Dumbledore's Army?" several people said raising their eyebrows.

"What is that?" Molly questioned, she was getting over her shock, though she was still holding on to George, who was looking terrified about meaning that close to his mum at the moment. It was all Fred, Ron and Ginny could do not to laugh at his expression.

"Er..." Sophia said, really hoping that she wouldn't have to explain this.

"I would believe that it's likely the Defense group that Sophia is in charge of," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling slightly.

"I was under the impression that there was no Defense group," Molly narrowed her eyes.

"Sorry Mum, but we couldn't just sit around and let that toad get away with everything she was pulling at Hogwarts," Ron snapped, feeling oddly courageous at the moment, he wonder vaguely if it had anything to do with the fact that Hermione was still holding his hand, but his mind didn't linger there now.

"YOU... YOU DID... I CAN'T BELIEVE..." Molly started to shut and George made a face.

"The ears not gone yet Mum," George grumbled as he rubbed his ear.

"Now Molly, I know that you never liked this idea, but it is..." Arthur said from the couch and when his wife glared at him he was happy that a giant snake had just attacked him because it meant she was less likely to curse him.

"Sophia and the others need to know how to defend themselves," Sirius when on where Arthur left off and he didn't cringe away from the glare he was receiving.

"I agree," Dumbledore said. "And I think we might just see how much was gain from this... though I feel that I must add that I'm honored that you named your group after me."

"Oh," Sophia said, who had been looking at the floor when Molly was yelling, looked up at Dumbledore. "We thought it was a good name seeing as it was what the Minister is most afraid of right now."

Molly was by no means any less angry about this, but after what Dumbledore said she held her tongue.

**"Yes, Sophia," said Remus with painful restraint, "and a great number of Death Eaters witnessed that happening! Forgive me, but it was a very unusual move then, under the imminent threat of death. Repeating it tonight in front of Death Eaters who either witnessed or heard about the first occasion was close to suicidal!"**

**"So you think I should have killed Stan Shunpike?" said Sophia angrily.**

**"Of course not," said Remus, "but the Death Eaters – frankly, most people! – would have expected you to attack back! Expelliarmus is a useful spell, Sophia, but the Death Eaters seem to think it is your signature move, and I urge you not to let it become so!"**

"No Sophia, don't listen to him," Fred said.

"Yeah, you should totally use that move all the time now," George said.

"Hey... I bet you can even use it to defeat Snakeface," Fred added.

"Whatever," Sophia rolled her eyes.

"Actually I was thinking that I might have done the same thing," Hermione said.

"What?" someone questioned.

"You know, if I was in the same situation as Sophia was in, I might have used the Disarming Charm on him, too," Hermione said.

"I don't know about that Hermione," Sophia said.

"I wouldn't want him to get killed," Hermione said heatedly.

"I know, but you probably would have thought of a better spell to use," Sophia said. "I'm sure you've looked up dozens more spells than me..."

"Maybe," Hermione allowed, as she rolled her eyes. "But I think _Expelliarmus_ is one of the best charms you could have used while trying to make sure that Stan wouldn't get kill but also making sure that he wasn't a threat to you either."

"Okay, we get it," Ron said. "You would have disarmed him too, now can we get back to reading..."

"Fine," Hermione said, though she was wondering if Ron would have tried to disarm Stan, too, or not.

"I think I would," Ron answered her unasked question and smiled when she looked sheepish about him guessing what she was thinking.

**Remus was making Sophia feel idiotic, and yet there was still a grain of defiance inside her.**

Sirius laughed at that and said, "I know the feeling."

"Are you sure it was only a grain Sophia, that doesn't seem like enough for you?" Ron teased.

"Shut up," Sophia grumbled.

**"I won't blast people out of my way just because they're there," said Sophia, "That's Voldemort's job."**

**Remus' retort was lost making Sophia feel rather smug:**

Sirius, Tonks, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny all snickered while Remus glared at his surrogate niece, who looked as smug as the book said.

**Finally succeeding in squeezing through the door, Hagrid staggered to a chair and sat down; it collapsed beneath him. Ignoring his mingled oaths and apologies, Sophia addressed Remus again.**

**"Will George be okay?"**

**All Remus' frustration with Sophia seemed to drain away at the question.**

**"I think so; although there's no chance of replacing his ear, not when it's been cursed off –"**

Molly whimpered at that and went back to holding her son. Sophia herself looked aghast but remembered that he was still here, in the room, with two ears on his head.

**There was a scuffling from outside. Remus dived for the back door; Sophia leapt over Hagrid's legs and sprinted into the yard.**

**Two figures had appeared in the yard, and as Sophia ran toward them she realized they were Hermione,**

"Good," Ron sighed in relief before anyone else could and Hermione gave him a shy smile.

**now returning to her normal appearance, and Kingsley, both clutching a bent coat hanger, Hermione flung herself into Sophia's arms, which made her stagger back some,**

"Still a scrawny git then," Ron said grinning at the huffing Sophia.

**but Kingsley showed no pleasure at the sight of any of them. **

Kingsley gave a nod at his future self's actions making Tonks roll her eyes at him.

**Over Hermione's shoulder Sophia saw him raise his wand and point it at Remus' chest.**

**"The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us!"**

**"Sophia is the best hope we have. Trust her,'" said Remus calmly.**

"Did you really have to say something like that, Sir?" Sophia groaned.

"Sorry Sophia," Dumbledore smiled at her understandingly, but in a way to make it clear that he believed that sentence to be true.

**Kingsley turned his wand on Sophia, but Remus said, "It's her, I've checked!"**

**"All right, all right!" said Kingsley, stowing his wand back beneath his cloak, "But somebody betrayed us! They knew, they knew it was tonight!"**

**"So it seems," replied Remus, "but apparently they did not realize that there would be seven Sophias."**

**"Small comfort!" snarled Kingsley. "Who else is back?"**

**"Only Sophia, Hagrid, George, and me."**

**Hermione stifled a little moan behind her hand.**

Hermione stiffen slightly, thinking about what might have happened to Ron and knowing that was what she was thinking in the book. Ron gave her hand, the one that he had been handing most of this chapter, a squeeze and it made her relax considerably.

**"What happened to you?" Remus asked Kingsley.**

**"Followed by five, injured two, might've killed one," Kingsley reeled off, "and we saw You-Know-Who as well,**

Several people gasped at that looking warily at Hermione.

Ron went pale and this time it was Hermione that reassured him that she was okay by squeezing his hand.

**he joined the chase halfway through but vanished pretty quickly. Remus, he can –"**

"That must have been when he found out where the Sophia was," Hermione mumbled.

Sophia almost smiled at that; she supposed it wasn't such a bad thing that she called attention to herself. She shuddered to think what might have happened to Hermione if she hadn't.

**"Fly," supplied Sophia. "I saw him too; he came after Hagrid and me."**

**"So that's why he left, to follow you!" said Kingsley, "I couldn't understand why he'd vanished. But what made him change targets?"**

**"Sophia behaved a little too kindly to Stan Shunpike," said Remus.**

**Sophia rolled her eyes so he wanted to start that again now did he. **

Many were trying to hold in their laughter and at the look on Remus' face, it was a good thing they did.

**"Stan?" repeated Hermione. "But I thought he was in Azkaban?"**

**Kingsley let out a mirthless laugh.**

**"Hermione, there's obviously been a mass breakout which the Ministry has hushed up. Travers's hood fell off when I cursed him; he's supposed to be inside too. But what happened to you, Remus? Where's George?"**

**"He lost an ear," said Remus.**

**"lost an - ?" repeated Hermione in a high voice.**

**"Snape's work," said Remus.**

Everyone looked at Snape at that moment. The glares he was receiving from them cause him to back against the wall looking unusually terrified.

"Everyone calm down," Dumbledore said, but it had little effect on the room.

"YOU MONSTER, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?" Molly shouted at Snape.

"I..." Snape opened his mouth but now words came out. It was true that he didn't like any of the Weasleys (though Bill and Percy hadn't been too bad) but he never would have wanted to curse them like this.

"You cursed George's bloody ear off!" Fred snapped indignantly, "You've ruined our favorite joke!"

"You really don't have any decency at all, Snivellius!" Sirius hissed.

"That is enough," Dumbledore said in a sharp voice and everyone fell silent, though that didn't stop anyone from glaring at Snape. "I suggest that we do not past judgment on anyone until we have finished reading this book."

"But he..." Molly started to say indignantly but trailed off when Dumbledore gave her a look.

**"****_Snape?_****" shouted Sophia. "You didn't say –"**

**"He lost his hood during the chase. Sectumsempra**

Snape paled at that, though he was trying his hardest not to reach... not with everyone looking at him murderously like they were.

**was always a specialty of Snape's. I wish I could say I'd paid him back in kind, but it was all I could do to keep George on the broom after he was injured, he was losing so much blood."**

"Oh dear," Molly moaned and crushed George against her again. George was smart enough not to say anything about this, but he really was wished that this chapter would end soon and he could escape from his mother's grasp.

**Silence fell between the four of them as they looked up at the sky. There was no sign of movement; the stars stared back, unblinking, indifferent, unobscured by flying friends. Where was Sirius? Where was Ron? Where were Fred and Mr. Weasley? Where were Bill, Fleur, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Mundungus?**

"Hm... I guess we all know where we rank in Sophia's mind now," Fred said, smirking. "I'm rather flattered that I'm so high on your list."

"Er..." was all Sophia could say about that.

"You see that Remus, I'm #1." Sirius said looking rather smug as Remus rolled his eyes at his husband.

"You mean you like her better than me," Tonks pouted as she pointed at Fleur.

Fleur looked offended for a second, but it was clear Tonks had meant that as a joke so she said, "Well, Sophia obviously has good taste."

Several people were now laughing at that.

**"Sophie, give us a hand!" called Hagrid hoarsely from the door, in which he was stuck again. Glad of something to do, Sophia pulled him free, the headed through the empty kitchen and back into the sitting room, where Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were still tending to George. Mrs. Weasley had staunched his bleeding now, and by the lamplight Sophia saw a clean gaping hole where George's ear had been.**

Everyone winched at that and George was again crushed.

"Ow, Mum seriously, I think you might break something soon," George said.

**"How is he?"**

**Mrs. Weasley looked around and said, "I can't make it grow back, not when it's been removed by Dark Magic. But it could've been so much worse . . . . He's alive."**

A shiver ran through everyone at that sentence.

**"Yeah," said Sophia. "Thank God." **

**It was small comfort as all Sophia wanted to do was be with George right now; being in his arm's again; holding him…**

No one made a comment as Sophia looked distraught but George himself looked like he wanted to escape from his mother's hold and go to her.

**"Did I hear someone else in the yard?" Ginny asked.**

**"Hermione and Kingsley," said Sophia.**

**"Thank goodness," Ginny whispered. **

Hermione smiled at that.

**"I'll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I've seen my son, now back off if you know what's good for you!"**

"Oh thank Merlin," Molly moaned, Arthur was okay and if he was talking like that so was Fred... Now all she had to worry about was Bill and Ron.

**Sophia had never heard Mr. Weasley shout like that before. He burst into the living room, his bald patch gleaming with sweat, his spectacles askew, Fred right behind him, both pale but uninjured.**

**"Arthur!" sobbed Mrs. Weasley. "Oh thank goodness!"**

**"How is he?"**

**Mr. Weasley dropped to his knees beside George. For the first time since Sophia had known him, Fred seemed to be lost for words. He gaped over the back of the sofa at his twin's wound as if he could not believe what he was seeing.**

**Perhaps roused by the sound of Fred and their father's arrival, George stirred.**

**"How do you feel, Georgie?" whispered Mrs. Weasley.**

**George's fingers groped for the side of his head.**

There was more shivering at that.

**"Saintlike," he murmured.**

"Saintlike," Fred said shaking his head, "pathetic."

"Er... what's pathetic?" Ron asked.

"I'm sure you'll see," Fred said still shaking his head.

**"What's wrong with him?" croaked Fred, looking terrified. "Is his mind affected?"**

"Ah... Look how much icki Freddie is worried," Ginny teased him and Fred glared at her.

**"Saintlike," repeated George, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. "You see. . . I'm holy. **_**Holey**_**, Fred, geddit?"**

"Argh, that was pathetic," Sirius groaned.

"Told you so," Fred said as George rolled his eyes.

"You two... you're never serious," Molly groaned.

"No... but it's obvious they try to be," Sirius said. "I am their idol after all."

"Not if you keep making puns like that you're not," Fred said and Sirius pouted.

**Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder than ever. Color flooded Fred's pale face.**

**"Pathetic," he told George. "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humor before you, you go for**_**holey**_**?"**

**"Ah well," said George, grinning at his tear-soaked mother. "You'll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, Mum."**

"You just had to mention that," Fred bowed his head.

"I'm sorry dear brother," George sighed. "We're still in the morning period for our beloved joke."

"Idiots," Hermione said rolling her eyes as the twins gave her identical grins.

**He looked around.**

**"Hi, Phia – you are Sophia, right?"**

"Phia?" Tonks said amusedly looking between the two blushing teens.

**"Yeah, I am," said Sophia, moving closer to the sofa.**

**"Well, at least we got you back okay," said George, "You know, I always wanted to get my ear pierced Phia, never thought I actually would though…Think I can find an earring that fits?"**

Everyone looked at George

"You could pull of an earring." Charlie said thoughtfully. "Not a big one though, just a stud would be best."

"A stud for a stud? Alright." George grinned.

**Sophia laughed a watery laugh. "Oh shut up, stupid."**

"Even the book tells me to shut up?" George huffed.

**"Well, at least we got you back okay," said George. "Why aren't Ron and Bill huddled round my sickbed?"**

Molly and Hermione both tensed at that.

"You just had to mention that," Fred repeated his early statement, though this time in a serious tone.

**"They're not back yet, George," said Mrs. Weasley. George's grin faded. Sophia glanced at Ginny and motioned to her to accompany him back outside. As they walked through the kitchen she said in a low voice.**

**"Ron and Tonks should be back by now.**

Hermione shivered at that; _Ron where are you?_

**They didn't have a long journey; Auntie Muriel's not that far from here."**

**Sophia said nothing. She had been trying to keep fear at bay ever since reaching the Burrow, but now it enveloped her, seeming to crawl over her skin, throbbing in her chest, clogging her throat.**

_Yeah, that's about right,_ Sophia thought to herself as she felt the said sensation.

**As they walked down the back steps into the dark yard.**

**Kingsley was striding backward and forward, glancing up at the sky every time he turned. Sophia was reminded of Uncle Vernon pacing the living room a million years ago. **

Kingsley shuddered. "Don't compare me to that oaf!" he begged.

Haley smiled despite the situation. "I promise I'll never do it again."

**Hagrid, Hermione, and Remus stood shoulder to shoulder, gazing upward in silence. None of them looked around when Sophia and Ginny joined their silent vigil.**

**The minutes stretched into what might as well have been years. The slightest breath of wind made them all jump and turn toward the whispering bush or tree in the hope that one of the missing Order members might leap unscathed from its leaves –**

**And then a broom materialized directly above them and streaked toward the ground –**

**"It's them!" screamed Hermione.**

Hermione let out a breath that she didn't know that she was holding and turn to smile briefly at Ron, but as soon as she meet his eyes, her cheeks turned red and she had to look away.

**Tonks landed in a long skid that sent earth and pebbles everywhere.**

**"Kingsley!" Tonks cried as she staggered off the broom into Kingsley's arms. His face was set and gaunt: He seemed unable to speak, Ron tripped dazedly toward Sophia and Hermione.**

**"You're okay," he mumbled, before Hermione flew at him and hugged him tightly.**

There was a lot of whooping and whistles going on in the room, mainly from the twins, but Charlie, Bill and Ginny joined in, too. The adults, though refraining from making any noise, all tried to hide their smirks with various degrees of success.

Of course, the only response that Ron and Hermione had was to turn bright red, pointedly not look at one another and final dropping the hand that they had been holding for most of this chapter.

**"I thought – I thought –"**

**"'M all right," said Ron, patting her on the back. "'M fine."**

**"Ron was great," said Tonks warmly, relinquishing her hold on Kingsley. "Wonderful. Stunned one of the Death Eaters, straight to the head, and when you're aiming at a moving target from a flying broom –"**

**"You did?" said Hermione, gazing up at Ron with her arms still around his neck.**

**"Always the tone of surprise," he said a little grumpily, breaking free.**

"I didn't mean it that way," Hermione muttered, finding it hard to talk because she was so embarrassed at the moment with the sniggers she could hear from all her friends. "I was impressed..."

"Which means that you never expected me to do anything like that," Ron snapped, automatically falling onto his standard reaction to Hermione, especially when he was as nervous like he was right now; argue.

"You didn't hear me hitting any Death Eaters did you!" Hermione snapped back, it was just so much more comfortable to be fighting with Ron. "It's difficult thing to manage as Tonks had just implied, so just take the compliment and stop grumbling!"

"Hump," Ron huffed and crossed his arms, but didn't say anything. He couldn't really say anything at the moment anyways; he was trying to stop himself from smiling too much. It's not every day after all that she compliments him.

Naturally several people where sniggering as this conversation went on as Sophia rolled her eyes.

**"Are we the last back?"**

**"No," said Ginny, "we're still waiting for Bill, Sirius, and Fleur and Mad-Eye and Mundungus. I'm going to tell Mum and Dad you're okay, Ron –"**

**She ran back inside.**

**"So what kept you? What happened?" Kingsley sounded almost angry at Tonks.**

**"Bellatrix," said Tonks. "She wants me quite as much as she wants Sophia, Kings; She tried very hard to kill me.**

"That Bitch!" Sirius growled. "If I could get my hands on her..."

"... I'll strangle her to death," Charlie finished for him.

Kingsley didn't say anything but his eyes darken at the mention of this and it was clear that he was just as upset about this as the other two.

**I just wish I'd got her, I owe Bellatrix. But we definitely injured Rodolphus . . . . Then we got to Ron's Auntie Muriel's and we missed our Portkey and she was fussing over us –"**

**A muscle was jumping in Kingsley's jaw. He nodded, but seemed unable to say anything else.**

"Yeah, I think I might know that look," Sirius said looking at the Auror that was indeed looking like that at the moment.

**"So what happened to you lot?" Tonks asked, turning to Sophia, Hermione, and Remus.**

**They recounted the stories of their own journeys, but all the time the continued absence of Sirius, Bill, Fleur, Mad-Eye, and Mundungus seemed to lie upon them like a frost, its icy bite harder and harder to ignore.**

**"I'm going to have to get back to Downing Street, I should have been there an hour ago," said Kingsley finally, after a last sweeping gaze at the sky. "Let me know when they're back."**

**Tonks nodded and she gave him one last embrace. With a wave to the others, Kingsley walked away into the darkness toward the gate. Sophia thought she heard the faintest **_**pop**_**s Kingsley Disapparated just beyond the Burrow's boundaries.**

**Mr. And Mrs. Weasley came racing down the back steps, Ginny behind them. Both parents hugged Ron before turning to Remus and Tonks.**

**"Thank you," said Mrs. Weasley, "for our sons."**

**"Don't be silly, Molly," said Tonks at once.**

**"How's George?" asked Remus.**

**"What's wrong with him?" piped up Ron.**

**"He's lost –"**

**But the end of Mrs. Weasley's sentence was drowned in a general outcry. A thestral had just soared into sight and landed a few feet from them. Bill and Fleur slid from its back, supporting an unconscious Sirius.**

Remus gripped Sirius' hand tightly to his.

**Remus ran forward to Sirius to help get him on a couch.**

**"Bill! Thank God, thank God –"**

**Mrs. Weasley ran forward, but the hug Bill bestowed upon her was perfunctory. Looking directly at his father, he said, "Mad-Eye's dead."**

"NO!" many people moaned.

Dumbledore bowed his head, though not shocked by this, he still felt sorry for his old friend that had been fighting Dark Wizards all his life. McGonagall's lips trembled slightly at this, she had great respect of the man, even if he was a little eccentric. Harry clutched his hands into a fist as the guilt raked through him.

No one seemed able to say anything for a long time as they all bowed their heads in silence, after what seemed like forever, Charlie final started reading again.

**"Sirius is okay. Took a stunner but other than that, not a scratch on him." **

Remus let out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding.

**Nobody spoke, nobody moved. Sophia felt as though something inside her was falling, falling through the earth, leaving her forever.**

**"We saw it," said Bill; Fleur nodded, tear tracks glittering on her cheeks in the light from the kitchen window. "It happened just after we broke out of the circle: Mad-Eye and Dung were close by us, they were heading north too. Voldemort – he can fly – went straight for them. Dung panicked, I heard him cry out, Mad-Eye tried to stop him, but he Disapparated.**

"STUPID COWARDING GIT!" Tonks yelled, she had been rather close to Moody and to hear that this coward had just left him there...

Charlie gritted his teeth for a second before he started reading again.

**Voldemort's curse hit Mad-Eye full in the face, he fell backward off his broom and – there was nothing we could do, nothing, we had half a dozen of them on our own tail –"**

**Bill's voice broke.**

**"Of course you couldn't have done anything," said Remus.**

**They all stood looking at each other. Sophia could not quite comprehend it. Mad-Eye dead; it could not be . . . . Mad-Eye, so tough, so brave, the consummate survivor . . .**

**At last it seemed to dawn on everyone, though nobody said it, that there was no point of waiting in the yard anymore, and in silence they followed Mr. And Mrs. Weasley back into the Burrow, and into the living room, where Fred and George were laughing together.**

**"What's wrong?" said Fred, scanning their faces as they entered, "What's happened? Who's -?"**

**"Mad-Eye," said Mr. Weasley, "Dead."**

**The twins' grins turned to grimaces of shock. Nobody seemed to know what to do. Tonks was crying silently into a handkerchief: She had been close to Mad-Eye, Sophia knew, his favorite protégée at the Ministry of Magic.**

Upon hearing that Kingsley wrapped his arms around Tonks and pulled her into his chest.

**Hagrid, who had sat down on the floor in the corner where he had most space, was dabbing at his eyes with his tablecloth-sized handkerchief.**

**Bill walked over to the sideboard and pulled out a bottle of fire-whisky and some glasses.**

**"Here," he said, and with a wave of his wand, he sent thirteen full glasses soaring through the room to each of them, holding the fourteen aloft.**

Bill raised his arm to do the same thing but before he could he stopped himself. It felt a little odd to toast someone like this when they weren't dead and if they could help it wouldn't die anytime soon.

**"Mad-Eye."**

**"Mad-Eye," they all said, and drank.**

**"Mad-Eye," echoed Hagrid, a little late, with a hiccup. The firewhisky seared Sophia's throat. It seemed to burn feeling back into her, dispelling the numbness and sense of unreality firing her with something that was like courage.**

**"So Mundungus disappeared?" said Remus, who had drained his own glass in one.**

**The atmosphere changed at once. Everybody looked tense, watching Remus, both wanting him to go on, it seemed to Sophia, and slightly afraid of what they might hear.**

"You think..." Sirius started to say but Charlie just keep reading, he didn't feel much in the mood for talking about this and then having to read about it right afterward and thankfully Sirius seemed to understand that for he didn't make any protest.

**"I know what you're thinking," said Bill, "and I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn't they? But Mundungus can't have betrayed us. They didn't know there would be seven Sophias, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you've forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skullduggery. Why wouldn't he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it's as simple as that. He didn't want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Who went straight for them. It was enough to make anyone panic."**

"Panic yes, but to leave your partner behind like that to get killed," Tonks muttered darkly, or as darkly as she could when it sounded like she had a cold.

"I don't know why you're surprised, most people would react that way," Draco said, he didn't really have any love for Moody. This was mostly due to the fact that he was turned into a ferret, though of course he knew that Moody wasn't really the one that did that, it didn't really make him like the guy that much. Still, he didn't really want the guy dead, but the simple fact was there was really no reason that anyone to stick their neck out there in this situation.

**"You-Know-Who acted exactly as Mad-Eye expected him to," sniffed Tonks. "Mad-Eye said he'd expect the real Sophia to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. He chased Mad-Eye first, and when Mundungus gave them away he switched to Kingsley. . . . "**

Ron frowned at that; why was Hermione with Kingsley if he was such a top target, he should have been the one.

**"Yes, and zat eez all very good," snapped Fleur, "but still eet does not explain 'ow zey know we were moving 'Arry tonight, does eet? Somebody must 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan."**

"Oh, we know who slipped the information to them," Sirius hissed glaring at Snape.

"The question is, how did he know that," Remus said reasonably.

**She glared around at them all; tear tracks still etched on her beautiful face, silently daring any of them to contradict her. Nobody did. The only sound to break the silence was that of Hagrid hiccupping from behind his handkerchief. Sophia glanced at Hagrid, who had just risked his own life to save Sophia's – Hagrid, whom she loved, whom she trusted, who had once been tricked into giving Voldemort crucial information in exchange for a dragon's egg. . . .**

"Dragon's egg!" Molly exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"

"Er..." Sophia said.

"When did this happen?" Molly continued.

"Hm... you wouldn't happen to be talking about Norberta," Charlie said smiling.

"Norbert's a girl!" Sophia, Ron and Hermione all exclaimed.

"Yep," Charlie chuckled.

"When... Did... This... Happen?" Molly repeated slowly this time.

"In first year," Malfoy answered for the quivering trio.

"You mean there really was a dragon!" McGonagall said, and the trio nodded their heads. "Perhaps I was a little too harsh on Mr. Longbottom them," she muttered to herself thoughtful and then looked at the trio coldly, "but not hard enough on you three."

"They were just trying to help Hagrid out," Charlie defended them. "And it's not like they brought the dragon in or anything like that."

"And how did you know about this?" Molly snapped at her son.

"Er... well... you see, I kind of help them get Norberta out of Hogwarts," Charlie said rubbing the back of his head nervously. It was funny how he could face dangerous dragons all day without breaking a sweat, but he couldn't face his mum.

"I don't want to hear you excuses Charles Weasley!" Molly snapped at him. "And you three, you should know better than dealing with a dragon... you should have gone to a professor when you found out about it and..."

She continued to rant like this for some time but eventually she tired herself out and Charlie started reading again.

**Sophia's thoughts were interrupted by a loud groan indicating the awakening of Sirius.**

Sirius smiled as he was mentioned while Remus kissed Sirius' cheek, happy that he was awake.

**"No," Sophia said aloud, and they all looked at her, surprised: The firewhisky seemed to have amplified her voice. "I mean . . . if somebody made a mistake," Sophia went on, "and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault," she repeated, again a little louder than she would usually have spoken. "We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you; I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort."**

"Well said Soph," Fred, George and Sirius all cheered.

Dumbledore smiled proudly at her.

Remus, however was frowning, thinking how much she reminded him of James... and what had come of the trust she had placed in her friends.

**More silence followed her words. They were all looking at him; Sophia felt a little hot again, and drank some more firewhisky for something to do. As she drank, she thought of Mad-Eye. Mad-Eye had always been scathing about Dumbledore's willingness to trust people.**

"Yes, he would not have liked your comment at all," Dumbledore smiled fondly as he thought of his old friend.

**"Well said, Harry," said Fred unexpectedly.**

**"Year, 'ear, 'ear," said George,**

The Weasley kids and Sirius snorted at that.

**with half a glance at Fred, the corner of whose mouth twitched.**

**Remus was wearing an odd expression as he looked at Sophia. It was close to pitying.**

"What's your probably Moony?" Sirius asked. "Why are you such a downer in this chapter?"

Remus rolled his eyes and motioned for Charlie to read.

**"You think I'm a fool?" demanded Sophia.**

**"No, I think you're like James," said Remus, "who would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends."**

"I don't see anything... Oh," Sirius said, the realization dawning on him. "Sophia, Remus usually has a point but right now he's wrong..."

"Sirius," Remus started to say, annoyed by that comment.

"No," Sirius snapped at him. "I don't want my goddaughter to stop trusting people because of what happened between us... our friends. Trust your friends Sop... just don't be blind if they ever start acting oddly."

Sophia nodded her head as Remus frowned.

**Sophia said Sirius throw a glare at his husband for that comment. **

Sirius nodded with his future actions making his husband deepen his frown.

**Sophia knew what Remus was getting at: that her father had been betrayed by his friend Peter Pettigrew. She felt irrationally angry. She wanted to argue, but Remus had turned away from her, set down his glass upon a side table, and addressed Bill, "There's work to do. I can ask Kingsley whether –"**

**"No," said Bill at once, "I'll do it, I'll come."**

**"Where are you going?" said Sirius and Fleur together.**

**"Mad-Eye's body," said Remus. "We need to recover it."**

**"Can't it - ?" began Mrs. Weasley with an appealing look at Bill.**

**"Wait?" said Bill, "Not unless you'd rather the Death Eaters took it?"**

**Nobody spoke. Remus and Bill said good bye and left.**

Molly sighed; she didn't like that Bill was leaving to go on a potentially dangerous mission so soon after everything that had happened.

**The rest of them now dropped into chairs, all except for Sophia, who remained standing. The suddenness and completeness of death was with them like a presence.**

**"I've got to go too," said Sophia.**

"What?" everyone in the room said (besides Sophia himself) as they all looked at her incredulously.

"You are not leaving!" Molly said so fiercely that Sophia didn't even attempt to argue.

**Eleven pairs of startled eyes looked at her.**

**"Don't be silly, Sophia," said Mrs. Weasley, "What are you talking about?"**

**"I can't stay here."**

**She rubbed her forehead; it was prickling again, she had not hurt like this for more than a year.**

Sophia raised an eyebrow there; does that mean that she wasn't going to have any more visions?

**"You're all in danger while I'm here. I don't want –"**

"Argh," several people groaned, though none as loudly as Ron and Hermione had.

**"But don't be so silly!" said Mrs. Weasley. "The whole point of tonight was to get you here safely, and thank goodness it worked. And Fleur's agreed to get married**

"Married?" Molly and Fleur said, though in completely different tones.

"Bill, we are going to get married!" Fleur beamed at him and though she always looked beautiful there was something different about the way she looked now. It probably had something to do with the fact that her smile seemed more natural and she seemed to have dropped her haughty appearance for a moment. Bill smiled at her and his eyes twinkled with merriment.

Molly looked at the two with a frown, which only seemed to become more pronounce with how they two looked at each other. She wasn't ready to lose her boy yet. However, there was nothing she could do about it, they were obviously happy together.

**here rather than in France, we've arranged everything so that we can all stay together and look after you –"**

**She did not understand; she was making her feel worse, not better.**

"Oh, she does understand," all the Weasley kids said at once.

"Mum's the best at guilt trips," Ron explained and Molly didn't protest... it was true.

**"If Voldemort finds out I'm here –"**

**"But why should he?" asked Mrs. Weasley.**

**"There are a dozen places you might be now, Sophia," said Mr. Weasley. "He's got no way of knowing which safe house you're in."**

"Dad's joining in too." Bill said. "You've got no chance kid."

"I'm not a kid." Sophia huffed.

**'Yer not goin' anywhere," growled Hagrid. "Blimey, Sophie, after all we wen' through ter get you here?"**

"And now Hagrid." Tonks added in.

**"Yeah, what about my bleeding ear?" said George, hoisting himself upon his cushions.**

"And George too? Wow." Charlie whistled.

**Sophia would have rolled her eyes if she was so busy. Of course George would get into it.**

"She knows you well Georgie Boy." Fred teased.

**"I know that –"**

**"Mad-Eye wouldn't want –"**

**"I KNOW!" Sophia bellowed.**

**She felt beleaguered and blackmailed: Did they think she did not know what they had done for her, didn't they understand that it was for precisely that reason that she wanted to go now, before they had to suffer any more on her behalf?**

"Sophia," Hermione sighed as she looked at floor so she didn't have to look anyone in the eye.

**There was a long and awkward silence in which her scar continued to prickle and throb, and which was broken at last by Mrs. Weasley.**

**"Where's Hedwig, Sophia?"**

Sophia grimaced and Molly moaned at bringing that up at that moment.

**she said coaxingly. "We can put her up with Pidwidgeon and give her something to eat."**

**Her insides clenched like a fist. She could not tell her the truth. She drank the last of her firewhisky to avoid answering.**

**"Wait till it gets out yeh did it again, Sophie," said Hagrid. "Escaped him, fought him off when he was right on top of yeh!"**

**"It wasn't me," said Sophia flatly. "It was my wand. My wand acted of its own accord."**

"Is that even possible?" Hermione and Remus both asked, looking at Dumbledore.

"In a normal circumstance, I would think not," Dumbledore said after he paused for a moment to think. "However, when we speak of Sophia and Voldemort nothing could be considered normal. After hearing what Sophia has described I would tend to agree with Sophia, that the wand did act on its own accord."

**After a few moments, Hermione said gently, "But that's impossible, Sophia. You mean that you did magic without meaning to; you reacted instinctively."**

**"No," said Sophia. "The bike was falling, I couldn't have told you where Voldemort was, but my wand spun in my hand and found him and shot a spell at him, and it wasn't even a spell I recognized. I've never made gold flames appear before."**

**"Often," said Mr. Weasley, "when you're in a pressured situation you can produce magic you never dreamed of. Small children often find, before they're trained –"**

**"It wasn't like that," said Sophia through gritted teeth. Her scar was burning. She felt angry and frustrated; she hated the idea that they were all imagining her to have power to match Voldemort's.**

**No one said anything. She knew that they did not believe her. Now that she came to think of it, she had never heard of a wand performing magic on its own before. **

**Sophia felt annoyed. They never believed her in these situations. It was like Malfoy and the Death Eater theory all over again. And who had been right: her; so ha. **

Some people snorted at her thoughts while others thought she had a valid point.

**Her scar seared with pain, it was all she could do not to moan aloud.**

Ron grimaced at this; he was hoping that Sophia wouldn't have to deal with that kind of pain anymore. It's been hard on him these last five months, watching his friend be in pain all the time.

**Muttering about fresh air, she set down her glass and left the room.**

**As she crossed the yard, the great skeletal thestral looked up – rustled its enormous batlike wings, then resumed its grazing. Sophia stopped at the gate into the garden, staring out at its overgrown plants, rubbing her pounding forehead and thinking of Dumbledore.**

**Dumbledore would have believed her, she knew it.**

"I guess I was right about that," Sophia smiled at her headmaster.

**Dumbledore would have known how and why Sophia's wand had acted independently,**

"Do you sir?" Sophia asked.

"I have a few theories," Dumbledore said and Sophia sighed, knowing that was the only answer she was going to get.

**because Dumbledore always had the answers; he had known about wands, had explained to Sophia the strange connection that existed between her wand and Voldemort's . . . . But Dumbledore, like Mad-Eye, like her parents, like her poor owl, all were gone where Sophia could never talk to them again. She felt a burning in her throat that had nothing to do with firewhisky. . .**

**And then, out of nowhere, the pain in her scar peaked. As she clutched her forehead and closed her eyes, a voice screamed inside her head.**

Sophia paled at this, knowing how painful that was going to be for her.

**"****_You told me the problem would be solved by using another's wand!_****"**

**And into her mind burst the vision of an emaciated old man lying in rags upon a stone floor, screaming, a horrible drawn-out scream, a scream of unendurable agony. . . .**

**"No! No! I beg you, I beg you. . . ."**

**"You lied to Lord Voldemort, Ollivander!"**

Everyone gasped at this, shocked about hearing this about the man that had made everyone's wand expect for Fleur's.

Dumbledore bowed his head again, at another of his old friends being tortured.

**"I did not. . . . I swear I did not. . . ."**

**"You sought to help Potter, to help her escape me!"**

**"I swear I did not. . . . I believed a different wand would work. . . ."**

**"Explain, then, what happened. Lucius's wand is destroyed!"**

**"I cannot understand. . . . The connection . . . exists only . . between your two wands. . . ."**

Hermione gasped, with what Dumbledore had just said about Sophia's wand really acting on its own and this sentence she was starting to connect the dots, though it didn't really make any more sense than it did before. She knew that Sophia was connected to Voldemort and somehow, this connection had helped Sophia's wand to react the way it did.

**"****_Lies!_****"**

**"Please . . . I beg you. . . ."**

**And Sophia saw the white hand raise its wand and felt Voldemort's surge of vicious anger, saw the frail old main on the floor writhe in agony –**

Several people cringed at that.

**"Sophia?"**

**It was over as quickly as it had come: Sophia stood shaking in the darkness, clutching the gate into the garden, her heart racing, her scar still tingling. It was several moments before she realized that Ron and Hermione were at her side.**

"You were probably trying to make sure that she wasn't going to leave," Sirius said.

**"Sophia, come back in the house," Hermione whispered, "You aren't still thinking of leaving?"**

**"Yeah, you've got to stay, mate," said Ron, thumping Sophia on the back.**

"See, told you," Sirius said smugly.

"No one argued with you," Remus rolled his eyes.

**"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, close enough now to look into Sophia's face. "You look awful!"**

Sophia turned to look at her pouting.

"Oh stop it, you know what I meant," Hermione said.

"Well, I just glad you're not throwing up... that's got to be an improvement," Ron said.

"I suppose," Sophia shrugged.

**"Well," said Sophia shakily, "I probably look better than Ollivander. . ."**

**When she had finished telling them what she had seen, Ron looked appalled, but Hermione downright terrified.**

**"But it was supposed to have stopped! Your scar – it wasn't supposed to do this anymore! You mustn't let that connection open up again – Dumbledore wanted you to close your mind!"**

"So it seems that Potter actually learns how to close her mind," Snape said, looking doubtful but slightly impress at the same time.

Dumbledore grimaced, he didn't want to say this when Snape was almost praising Sophia, but he felt that he had to say the other option that might have happened. "Or Voldemort had decided to use Occlumency against Sophia."

"Why would he do that?" Snape questioned as he thought that was the more likely thing to happen; the girl obviously doesn't have any control over her emotions and would find it extremely difficult to block her mind.

"My guess is that Voldemort found that the connection between the two of them was more dangerous to have than beneficial," Dumbledore said.

"Then why would Sophia be able to see this now?" Remus asked, frowning. "I mean, I doubt Voldemort wants her to see something like this..."

"No, I would think not," Dumbledore frowned and then was thoughtful; he would have to think about this more.

**When she did not reply, Hermione gripped her arm.**

**"Sophia, he's taking over the Ministry and the newspapers and half the Wizarding world! Don't let him inside your head too!"**

Sophia grimaced at that, thinking that she didn't really have a choice, but didn't say that out loud.

"That was the end of the chapter," Charlie said. "Who wants to read next?"

"I will," Tonks said taking the book from him.


	6. Chapter 6: The Ghoul in Pajamas

**Disclaimer: I do not own.**

* * *

**"****The Ghoul in Pajamas," **Tonks read.

**The shock of losing Mad-Eye hung over the house in the days that followed;**

"You're telling us," Tonks mumbled, finding it difficult to read this but went on the best she could.

**Sirius kept blaming himself for Mad-Eye's death since he had been told. Sophia kept expecting to see Mad-Eye stumping in through the back door like the other Order members, who passed in and out to relay news. Sophia felt that nothing but action would assuage her feelings of guilt and grief and that she ought to set out on her mission to find and destroy Horcruxes as soon as possible.**

"Horcruxes?" Several people said. Most people said this in a confused voice, having no clue what that was and why it would be something that Sophia would have to destroy. However one person paled at this as he gasped.

"That's how he did it! That's how he managed to survive the first time!" Sirius said looking at Dumbledore.

"Yes, I have come across proof that Voldemort had indeed made at least one Horcrux, and I have feared that he had to have made more," Dumbledore said gravely and then eyed Sirius curiously. "I am surprised that you would know about them though, Sirius."

"It was in one of my father's books," Sirius shivered at that. "He had told Regulus and I never to look at them..."

"So naturally you just had to look at them," Snape said in drawling voice.

"That's right," Sirius smirked though his eyes were dark and filled with hate as he looked at the greasy haired man.

"Professor, I still don't understand what Horcrux is?" Hermione said, looking at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "I think we should continue to read and if they are not explained by the end of this chapter, I explain them to you myself."

Hermione nodded her head and Tonks took that to mean that she should start reading again.

**"****Well, you can't do anything about the" – Ron mouthed the word **_**Horcruxes **_**–**

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow there, noting that it looked like Ron and Hermione must know everything that he told Sophia. On the whole, he didn't feel comfortable with more people knowing about this (which was why he was so uncomfortable at the moment knowing that everyone in this room was about to find out about it). However, he also knew that Sophia would need her friends if she was going to have to take on this task without himself being there to help her.

This was an interesting theory, and it also seemed to imply that he had realized that he wasn't going to be around to help Sophia. If that was true, he glanced at Snape, that would be a very good explanation for why Snape would kill him. What better way to make Voldemort believe that Snape is his man than to kill his greatest opponent (besides Sophia of course).

**"****till you're seventeen. You've still got the Trace on you. And we can plan here as well as anywhere, can't we? Or," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "d'you reckon you already know where the You-Know-Whats are?"**

"Honestly Ronald, you can't even say that word," Hermione said shaking her head and his brothers all sniggered.

"Obviously I didn't want anyone to overhear me!" Ron huffed back.

**"****No," Sophia admitted.**

**"****I think Hermione's been doing a bit of research," said Ron.**

"Wow! Really?" Fred teased and Hermione glared at him.

**"****She said she was saving it for when you got here."**

**They were sitting at the breakfast table; Mr. Weasley and Bill had just left for work. Mrs. Weasley had gone upstairs to wake Hermione and Ginny, while Fleur had drifted off to take a bath.**

Ron looked a bit dreamy until Hermione smacked him harshly on the back of the head.

**"****The Trace'll break on the thirty-first," said Sophia. "That means I only need to stay here four days. Then I can –"**

**"****Five days," Ron corrected her firmly. "We've got to stay for the wedding. They'll kill us if we miss it."**

"I should think so," Molly said. "A wedding is for family and you have to be there!"

"Yes, I would really like you being there Sophia," Fleur smiled at her and she smiled back.

**Sophia understood "they" to mean Fleur and Mrs. Weasley.**

"Well, obviously you were right about that," Sirius chuckled, as both women glared at him but he found that he didn't really care about that. It just felt so nice that he was finally near so many people like this.

**"****It's one extra day," said Ron, when Sophia looked mutinous.**

**"****Don't they realize how important –?"**

**"'****Course they don't," said Ron. "They haven't got a clue.**

"And why don't we have a clue!" Molly said sharply, but her glare wasn't directed towards her son, or even Sophia, but straight at Albus Dumbledore.

Now, Albus Dumbledore always considered himself a brave man, but he found it rather difficult to look the fierce looking witch in the eye. "I believe I have told them not to tell anyone about this..."

"Yes, I've gather that much," Molly said hotly. "But why?"

"I have always been wary of what would happen if too many people know about Voldemort's secrets. That it would only make him more guarded and it that much harder to destroy," Dumbledore said.

Molly huffed, and still looked upset but she didn't say anything.

**And now you mention it, I wanted to talk to you about that."**

**Ron glanced toward the door into the hall to check that Mrs. Weasley was not returning yet, then leaned in closer to Sophia.**

**"****Mum's been trying to get it out of Hermione and me. What we're off to do. She'll try you next, so brace yourself. Dad and Remus've both asked as well, but when we said Dumbledore told you not to tell anyone except us, they dropped it. Not Mum, though. She's determined."**

"I should think so," Molly muttered to herself, still looking rather cross.

**Ron's prediction came true within hours.**

"That's not surprising at all," all the Weasley kids said.

**Shortly before lunch, Mrs. Weasley detached Sophia from the others by asking her to help identify a lone sock that she thought might have come out of her rucksack. Once she had her cornered in the tiny scullery off the kitchen, she started.**

"You should never fall for the lone sock trick, Soph," Fred shook his head in disappointment.

"She's been using that one for years," George added.

"Honestly, I think we all fell for that at least once," Charlie chuckled. "It wasn't a very pleasant talk I can tell you that."

"And just what was it about, Charlie bear," Tonks teased him.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Charlie tried to look nonchalant but his ears started to turn red, though really, the blush could have been caused by Tonks using the nickname she had for him while they were at school (she knew he bitterly hated the name but he always called her Nymphy so she had to come up with something).

Tonks heisted for a moment, really wanting to tease him farther, but decided it was better if she just started reading again.

**"****Ron and Hermione seem to think that the three of you are dropping out of Hogwarts," she began in a light, casual tone.**

**"****Oh," said Sophia. "Well, yeah. We are."**

**The mangle turned of its own accord in a corner, wringing out what looked like one of Mr. Weasley's vests.**

**"****May I ask **_**why **_**you are abandoning your education?" said Mrs. Weasley.**

**"****Well, Dumbledore left me . . . stuff to do," mumbled Sophia. "Ron and Hermione know about it, and they want to come too."**

**"****What sort of 'stuff'?"**

**"****I'm sorry, I can't –"**

**"****Well, frankly, I think Arthur and I have a right to know, and I'm sure Mr. And Mrs. Granger would agree!" said Mrs. Weasley. Sophia had been afraid of the "concerned parent" attack.**

"And just what do you mean by that?" Molly asked turning to look sharply at Sophia.

"Oh, honestly Molly, leave the poor girl alone," Sirius said with a roll of his eyes.

**"****Dumbledore didn't want anyone else to know, Mrs. Weasley. I'm sorry. Ron and Hermione don't have to come, it's their choice –"**

"As if we have a choice," Ron and Hermione scoffed at the same time and Sophia couldn't help but feel lighten by the fact that they would always be there for her.

**"****I don't see that **_**you **_**have to go either!" she snapped, dropping all pretense now.**

The Weasley children all sniggered at that, having seen that tactic a million times before. Arthur would have chuckled too, if he didn't fear what his wife would have done to him. He might still be injured but he wouldn't put anything past her.

**"****You're barely of age, any of you! It's utter nonsense,**

"It completely right, Mum," Fred said.

"Yeah, what nonsense is this... Sophia's not of age yet!" George added.

**if Dumbledore needed work doing, he had the whole Order at his command! Sophia, you must have misunderstood him. Probably he was telling you something he **_**wanted **_**done, and you took it to mean that he wanted **_**you**_**–"**

The glare switched back to Dumbledore, who was looking uncomfortable again.

**"****I didn't misunderstand," said Sophia flatly. "It's got to be me."**

**She handed her back the single sock she was supposed to be identifying, which was patterned with golden bulrushes.**

**"****And that's not mine. I don't support Puddlemere United."**

"You should, they're awesome," Bill told her.

"I'm more into the Harpies myself." Sophia said with a shrug.

"They're not so bad," Fred said. "We've follow them a little since Oliver was on the team..."

"He actually played in the last match..." George said.

"He wasn't bad either," Fred added, "still, I won't call them awesome..."

**"****Oh, of course not," said Mrs. Weasley with a sudden and rather unnerving return to her casual tone. "I should have realized. Well, Sophia, while we've still got you here, you won't mind helping with the preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding, will you? There's still so much to do."**

"Don't agree to it mate... it's a trap!" Ron exclaimed.

"Hmph," Molly glared at him and he shrunk back into his chair.

"I don't think it matters mate, it's only right to help out isn't it," Sophia shrugged and Molly smiled at her. _Oh, what a considerate girl she is._

"You know something Sophia, sometimes I can't understand you at all," Sirius said shaking his head.

"It's probably because Sophia is nicer than you Padfoot," Remus said with a smirk.

Sirius just flipped him off ignoring Molly's shout of, "SIRIUS!"

**"****No – I – of course not," said Sophia, disconcerted by this sudden change of subject.**

**"****Sweet of you," Mrs. Weasley replied, and she smiled as she left the scullery.**

**From that moment on, Mrs. Weasley kept Sophia, Ron and Hermione so busy with preparations for the wedding that they hardly had any time to think. The kindest explanation of this behavior would have been that Mrs. Weasley wanted to distract them all from thoughts of Mad-Eye and the terrors of their recent journey.**

"Yeah that's too kind for our dear old mum," Fred and George said.

"Oh, don't call her that!" surprising Sirius snapped at them and when they gave him a curious look he shrugged and said, "It's what I call my mum... I really, really don't see the comparison."

"Right you are Sirius my good man," Fred said.

"I don't think we dare call mommy dearest that again," George added.

Molly grimaced; she didn't really like the sound of mommy dearest.

**After two days of nonstop cutlery cleaning, of color-matching favors, ribbons, and flowers, of de-gnoming the garden and helping Mrs. Weasley cook vast batches of canapés, however, Sophia started to suspect her of a different motive. All the jobs she handed out seemed to keep her, Ron, and Hermione away from one another; she had not had a chance to speak to the two of them alone since the first night, when she had told them about Voldemort torturing Ollivander.**

"You are being a bit obvious, dear," Arthur chuckled.

"Honestly Arthur, I'm sure I would have had them working just as hard if I wasn't afraid that they were planning something," Molly admitted. "Do you realize how much work we have to do if we're going to have a wedding at the Burrow?"

"No, but I'm sure you can enlighten me," Arthur said looking slightly amused. "Though, a later time would be preferable."

**"****I think Mum thinks that if she can stop the three of you getting together and planning, she'll be able to delay you leaving," George told Sophia in an undertone, as they laid the table for dinner on the third night of her stay.**

Molly blushed and the Weasleys chuckled.

**"****And then what does she think's going to happen?" Sophia muttered. "Someone else might kill off Voldemort while she's holding us here making vol-au-vents?"**

"Mate... I can't believe you just said that!" Ron gasped looking shocked.

"What?" Sophia started to say and then blush. "I must not have thought..."

"Well, that's obvious," Hermione said. "But usually you're..."

"Closed up..." Fred said.

"Can't get a word out of you..." George said.

"Not when it something juicy like this," Fred went on.

"Why are you taking to my dear twin Georgie like this," Fred questioned and George flushed at this.

**She had spoken without thinking, and saw George's face whiten.**

**"****So it's true?" he said. "That's what you're trying to do?"**

**"****I – not – I was joking," said Sophia evasively.**

"Yeah, right Phia, I'm not going to believe that," George rolled his eyes.

**They stared at each other, and there was something more than shock in George's expression. Suddenly Sophia became aware that this was the first time that she had been alone with him since those stolen hours in secluded corners of the Hogwarts grounds.**

"Stolen hours!" Sirius and Remus shouted looking equally as angry as the other.

"I have no idea... honestly!" George said, looking scared out of his mind.

Although Sirius and Remus were funny and nice to joke around with, they could become down right scary when something concerned Sophia, who was like their own daughter.

**Both of them jumped as the door opened, and Mr. Weasley, Kingsley, and Bill walked in.**

"Ah, dad walking in would be a total mood killer," Fred said with a wistful smile.

**They were often joined by other Order members for dinner now, because the Burrow had replaced number twelve, Grimmauld Place as the headquarters. Mr. Weasley had explained that after the death of Dumbledore, their Secret-Keeper, each of the people to whom Dumbledore had confided Grimmauld Place's location had become a Secret-Keeper in turn.**

"Which means that the place is no longer secure, someone could accidentally slip at any time," Molly said.

"Indeed," Dumbledore said and Molly narrowed her eyes at him. She had a feeling that he was using this to justify the fact that he didn't tell them... whatever it is that Sophia has to do.

**"****And as there are around twenty of us, that greatly dilutes the power of the Fidelius Charm. Twenty times as many opportunities for the Death Eaters to get the secret out of somebody. We can't expect it to hold much longer."**

**"****But surely Snape will have told the Death Eaters the address by now?" asked Sophia.**

"Yes, that is true," Remus said looking at Snape thoughtfully. Snape was looking at the book indifferently, but Remus couldn't help but note that this was one point in favor of Dumbledore's assures that Snape really was on their side.

**"****Well, Mad-Eye set up a couple of curses against Snape in case he turns up there again. We hope they'll be strong enough both to keep him out and to bind his tongue if he tries to talk about the place, but we can't be sure. It would have been insane to keep using the place as headquarters now that its protection has become so shaky."**

**The kitchen was so crowded that evening it was difficult to maneuver knives and forks. Sophia found herself crammed beside George; the unsaid things that had just passed between them made her wish they had been separated by a few more people.**

George shifted uncomfortably under the stares Sirius and Remus placed on him.

**"****No news about Mad-Eye?" Sophia asked Bill.**

**"****Nothing," replied Bill.**

**They had not been able to hold a funeral for Moody, because Bill and Remus had failed to recover his body. It had been difficult to know where he might have fallen, given the darkness and the confusion of the battle.**

"Poor Moody," Tonks sighed.

**"****The **_**Daily Prophet **_**hasn't said a word about him dying or about finding the body," Bill went on. "But that doesn't mean much. It's keeping a lot quiet these days."**

"You can say that again," Sophia grumbled.

"I have a feeling that things might have gotten slightly better in this respect for a while," Remus said. "It seems like Bill is implying that it's just started happening recently."

**"****And they still haven't called a hearing about all the underage magic I used escaping the Death Eaters?" Sophia called across the table to Mr. Weasley, who shook his head.**

**"****Because they know I had no choice or because they don't want me to tell the world Voldemort attacked me?"**

"Probably the latter," Remus said, "though when all is said and done it might have been good to tell everyone about that."

"What do you mean?" Sophia questioned. "Wouldn't they be scared if they knew that Voldemort was attacking people."

"Yes, I image they would," Remus said. "But it would also encourage them to know that you fought him... and lived again!" Sophia made a face at that, "I know you don't like this, but you are a public figure and a symbol of hope to most people, especially now that Dumbledore is gone... er... sorry sir."

"Don't mention it, I agree with you," Dumbledore smiled.

"Whatever," Sophia grumbled, that wasn't going to make her like that fact any better.

**"****The latter, I think. Scrimgeour doesn't want to admit that You-Know-Who is as powerful as he is, nor that Azkaban's seen a mass breakout."**

**"****Yeah, why tell the public the truth?" said Sophia, clenching her knife so tightly that the faint scars on the back of her right hand stood out, white against her skin: **_**I must not tell lies**_**.**

"What is that?" Sirius and Molly both said looking at Sophia in concern and she subconsciously rubbed the back of her head.

"Do you have that now?" Sirius asked getting up and taking Sophia's hand and indeed he saw the still red looking scar on the back of her hand. "When did this happen?"

"It's nothing," Sophia said taking her hand back.

"Don't be thick Sophia that had to be cause by a blood quill, the writing was too fine to be anything else and it was obviously in your own writing..." Sirius said. "I've never heard of a blood quill leaving a scar like that though..."

"Well it's bound to happen when someone makes you write the same thing over and over again until the message skin in!" Ron hissed.

"You knew about this!" Molly gasped. "Why didn't you tell anyone? This can't be an acceptable form of punishment at Hogwarts!"

"I assure you, it most definitely is not!" McGonagall said, looking appalled by the very idea, though she also was looking sadly at Sophia. "Potter, you should have come to me, I would have..."

"Honestly Professor McGonagall, I'm not sure what you could have done to the toad," Sophia muttered. "And I didn't want to give her the pleasure of seeing me complain."

"I never understood that," Hermione shook her head.

"And yet you never told us about it!" Molly exclaimed again.

"Sophia told us not to," Ron shrugged.

"I didn't want to betray her trust, even though I knew what was happening was wrong," Hermione said.

"Look, this doesn't really matter, it's happened, so let just start reading again," Sophia said hotly.

**"****Isn't anyone at the Ministry prepared to stand up to him?" asked Ron angrily.**

**"****Of course, Ron, but people are terrified," Mr. Weasley replied, "terrified that they will be next to disappear, their children the next to be attacked! There are nasty rumors going around; I for one don't believe the Muggle Studies professor at Hogwarts resigned.**

Everyone bowed their head; no she hadn't resigned.

**She hasn't been seen for weeks now. Meanwhile Scrimgeour remains shut up in his office all day; I just hope he's working on a plan."**

**There was a pause in which Mrs. Weasley magicked the empty plates onto the work surface and served apple tart.**

**"****We must decide 'ow you will be disguised, Sophia," said Fleur, once everyone had pudding.**

"Disguised... for what?" Sophia said tilting her head to side slightly.

**"****For ze wedding," she added, when Sophia looked confused.**

"Oh," Sophia said as most people sniggered.

**"****Of course, none of our guests are Death Eaters, but we cannot guarantee zat zey will not let something slip after zey 'ave 'ad champagne."**

**From this, Sophia gathered that she still suspected Hagrid.**

Several people glared at Fleur for that one but she didn't seemed to notice.

**"****Yes, good point," said Mrs. Weasley from the top of the table where she sat, spectacles perched on the end of her nose, scanning an immense list of jobs that she had scribbled on a very long piece of parchment. "Now, Ron, have you cleaned out your room yet?"**

Ron groaned and Molly glared at him.

**"**_**Why?**_**" exclaimed Ron, slamming his spoon down and glaring at his mother. "Why does my room have to be cleaned out? Sophia and I are fine with it the way it is!"**

"Actually if it's anywhere near how bad it was the last time I was there, it could do with a bit of a cleaning," Sophia said, though she honestly didn't care what the room looked like.

"Traitor," Ron said with disgust and Sophia just laughed.

**"****We are holding your brother's wedding here in a few days' time, young man –"**

**"****And are they getting married in my bedroom?" asked Ron furiously. "No! So why in the name of Merlin's saggy left –"**

"RONALD!" Hermione and Molly both reprimanded him.

**"****Don't talk to your mother like that," said Mr. Weasley firmly. "And do as you're told."**

**Ron scowled at both his parents, then picked up his spoon and attacked the last few mouthfuls of his apple tart.**

"There's no need to take it out on the apple tart Ronald." Fred mock scolded.

**"****I can help, some of it's my mess." Sophia told Ron, but Mrs. Weasley cut across her.**

"No way Sophia my love," Fred started.

"Mum's not going to make it that easy on you," George finished.

**"****No, Sophia, dear, I'd much rather you helped Arthur much out the chickens, and Hermione, I'd be ever so grateful if you'd change the sheets for Monsieur and Madame Delacour; you know they're arriving at eleven tomorrow morning."**

"Ah great, all we need at the Burrow is more people," Ron muttered.

"Ronald, don't be rude!" Hermione hissed at him.

"What? I have nothing against them, I'm just saying that there's already too many people there," Ron snapped back.

"Tonks, please read," Sophia said, for she had paused to let them talk but Sophia knew a row when she saw one and hopefully they would stop if the reading started again.

**But as it turned out, there was very little to do for the chickens. "There's no need to, er, mention it to Molly," Mr. Weasley told Sophia,**

Arthur started chuckling nervously as Molly glared at him.

"What is it this time?" Molly hissed and all Arthur could do was shrug and then he winched slightly, his wound hurting him.

**blocking her access to the coop, "but, er, Ted Tonks sent me most of what was left of Sirius's bike and, er, I'm hiding – that's to say, keeping – it in here.**

"I think hiding was right," Sirius laughed as Molly glare sharped. All the Weasley children were laughing out right, too, and Sophia, Hermione, Tonks, and Remus were trying to hide their amusement.

"I can't believe you Arthur!" Molly shouted. "What are you thinking?"

"Er... I... um... I... don't know," Arthur sputtered.

**Fantastic stuff: There's an exhaust gaskin, as I believe it's called, the most magnificent battery, and it'll be a great opportunity to find out how brakes work. I'm going to try and put it all back together again when Molly's not – I mean, when I've got time."**

That comment earned him another sharp glare from his wife and everyone to sniggering.

**When they returned to the house, Mrs. Weasley was nowhere to be seen, so Sophia slipped upstairs to Ron's attic bedroom.**

"See what you have done Arthur!" Molly snapped.

"Honestly Molly, dear, I think it's best that they are able to talk together," Arthur said reasonably. "They are all too stubborn to let anything stop them from going and it's better if they have time to prepare for it."

**"****I'm doing it, I'm doing – ! Oh, it's you," said Ron in relief, as Sophia entered the room. Ron lay back down on the bed, which he had evidently just vacated.**

Molly glared at her youngest son, who was looking a little too smug for her liking.

**The room was just as messy as it had been all week; the only chance was that Hermione was now sitting in the far corner, her fluffy ginger cat, Crookshanks, at her feet, sorting books, some of which Sophia recognized as her own, into two enormous piles.**

**"****Hi, Sophia," she said, as she sat down on his camp bed.**

**"****And how did you manage to get away?"**

**"****Oh, Ron's mum forgot that she asked Ginny and me to change the sheets yesterday," said Hermione.**

"I can't believe you didn't remind her of that!" Fred said.

"I always thought you were the honest one!" George added.

"Oh she is, but obviously she wanted to spend some quality alone time with Ron," Ginny said waggling her eyebrow. Hermione and Ron both blushed at that as almost everyone else laughed.

**She threw **_**Numerology and Grammatica **_**onto one pile and **_**The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts **_**onto the other.**

**"****We were just talking about Mad-Eye," Ron told Sophia. "I reckon he might have survived."**

Tonks' voice was a little stiff as she read this and though she seriously doubted that Ron was right, she couldn't help but hope that he was.

**"****But Bill saw him hit by the Killing Curse," said Sophia.**

**"****Yeah, but Bill was under attack too," said Ron. "How can he be sure what he saw?"**

**"****Even if the Killing Curse missed, Mad-Eye still fell about a thousand feet," said Hermione, now weight **_**Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland **_**in her hand.**

**"****He could have used a Shield Charm –"**

**"****Fleur said his wand was blasted out of his hand," said Sophia.**

**"****Well, all right, if you want him to be dead," said Ron grumpily, punching his pillow into a more comfortable shape.**

"Ronald, of course we don't want him to be dead!" Hermione snapped. "But there's no point in believing in something when it just can't be true."

"Whatever you say Mione," Ron rolled his eyes.

"Mione?" Hermione questioned, which caused Ron to blush.

"Uh... er... I didn't mean to say that," Ron sputtered, his ears turning redder the longer he talked.

"No it's okay... I guess you can call me that," Hermione said softly, starting to blush herself. She's never had a nickname before... at least not one that was very flattering.

"Really... you like it?" Ron said, perhaps with more enthusiasm than was warranted.

"I don't know about that, but it's no worse them my full name," Hermione said.

"What are you talking about Hermione, your name is beautiful," Ron said before he could think and then he turned brighter red than ever and stared at the floor. If he hadn't looked away he would have seen that Hermione was quite flustered herself and was looking rather pleased. Of course the sniggering going throughout the room wasn't really helping either of them at the moment.

"Argh, it's bad enough that I have to be stuck here reading about Potter but is it really necessary that I have to watch the Weasel and the M... Bushhead flirt," Draco groaned.

"Shut up Malfoy!" Several people snapped, though there was more sniggering at the fact that Ron and Hermione were now looking more embarrassed than ever.

**"****Of course we don't want him to be dead!" said Hermione, looking shocked. "It's dreadful that he's dead! But we're being realistic!"**

**For the first time, Sophia imagined Mad-Eye's body, broken as Dumbledore's had been, yet with that one eye still whizzing in its socket. She felt a stab of revulsion mixed with a bizarre desire to laugh.**

"Laugh! Seriously Soph, what's wrong with you?" Ginny asked shaking her head.

"Er... I don't know," Sophia shrugged.

**"****The Death Eaters probably tidied up after themselves, that's why no one's found him," said Ron wisely.**

"Ron and wisely in the same sentence? No I think you read the wrong Tonks." Fred said with a shake of his head making Ron throw up a rude gesture when his mother turned away.

**"****Yeah," said Sophia. "Like Barty Crouch, turned into a bone and buried in Hagrid's front garden. They probably transfigured Moody and stuffed him –"**

"Okay... we really don't need the details," Molly said, shivering at the thought.

**"****Don't!" squealed Hermione. Startled, Sophia looked over just in time to see her burst into tears over her copy of **_**Spellman's Syllabary**_**.**

"Come on, Mione, you have to be tougher than that," Fred said.

Hermione glared at him, though that had more to do with the fact that he called her Mione. She kind of liked the idea of Ron being the only one that called her that. But there was no way that she could said that now, for all it would do was cause another round of teasing from the Weasley boys.

**"****Oh no," said Sophia, struggling to get up from the old camp bed. "Hermione, I wasn't trying to upset –"**

**But with a great creaking of rusty bedsprings, Ron bounded off the bed and got there first.**

Several people sniggered at that and Ron growled, "Shut up!"

**One arm around Hermione, he fished in his jeans pocket and withdrew a revolting-looking handkerchief that he had used to clean out the oven earlier. Hastily pulling out his wand, he pointed it at the rag and said, "**_**Tergeo.**_**"**

**The wand siphoned off most of the grease. Looking rather pleased with himself, Ron handed the slightly smoking handkerchief to Hermione.**

"Honestly Ron, giving a lady a handkerchief you used to clean an oven," Bill said shaking his head.

"Shut up!" Ron grumbled.

"Yes, at least he was trying to be a gentleman," Ginny said trying not to laugh. "You have to give him points for that."

"Still, I think it would have been better to just conjure a new handkerchief," Bill chuckled. "But obviously he is learning."

Everyone was laughing at this as Ron and Hermione blushed again, they were starting to think that this was going to be a reoccurring theme in this book.

Percy, though he was chuckling, was looking a little sadly, too. He didn't know what was coming over him, but he almost wanted to tease his brother, too. That likely had something to do with the fact that Ron so obviously liked Hermione for as long as Percy could remember, but still he was never one to tease. Perhaps he would give Ron some advice... or at least he would like to, however, it was clear that Ron, along with the rest of his siblings didn't want anything to do with him and that hurt more than he expected it to.

**"****Oh . . . thanks, Ron. . . . I'm sorry. . . ." She blew her nose and hiccupped. "It's just so awf-ful, isn't it? R-right after Dumbledore . . . I j-just n-never imagined Mad-Eye dying, somehow, he seemed so tough!"**

**"****Yeah, I know," said Ron, giving her a squeeze. "But you know what he'd say to us if he was here?"**

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Ginny shouted in such a good imitation of Moody that several people laughed though she did get a glare for her mum.

"Yes, I do believe that's what he would have said," Tonks chuckled before reading again.

**"'****C-constant vigilance,'" said Hermione, mopping her eyes.**

"And Hermione agrees with ya," Fred said with a nod.

**"****That's right," said Ron, nodding. "He'd tell us to learn from what happened to him. And what I've learned is not to trust that cowardly little squit, Mundungus."**

**Hermione gave a shaky laugh and leaned forward to pick up two more books. A second later, Ron had snatched his arm back from around her shoulders; she had dropped **_**The Monster of Monsters **_**on his foot. The book had broken free from its restraining belt and snapped viciously at Ron's ankle.**

"That's what you get for trying to putting your arms around our dear Mione," George said to more sniggering in the room.

**"****I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Hermione cried as Sophia wrenched the book from Ron's leg and retied it shut.**

**"****What are you doing with all those books anyway?" Ron asked, limping back to his bed.**

**"****Just trying to decide which ones to take with us," said Hermione, "When we're looking for the Horcruxes."**

**"****Oh, of course," said Ron, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I forgot we'll be hunting down Voldemort in a mobile library."**

Several people laughed at that.

"And you were doing so well before that," Charlie said shaking his head.

"Well, a Ronniekins that doesn't say too much is not Ronniekins at all," Fred laughed as Ron glared at him.

**"Honestly Hermione, how are we going to take all those books with us?" Sophia asked. "I mean books are really heavy and bulky... it doesn't seem practical."**

"I not really sure," Hermione frowned. "Maybe I'll shrink them or do something like that."

**"****Ha ha," said Hermione, looking down at **_**Spellman's Syllabary**_**. "I wonder . . . will we need to translate runes? It's possible. . . . I think we'd better take it, to be safe."**

**She dropped the syllabary onto the larger of the two piles and picked up **_**Hogwarts, A History.**_

"Well that one's going with us whether it's useful or not," Ron smirked at Hermione. "I don't think you'll go anywhere without that."

"Shut up," Hermione huffed.

**"****Listen," said Sophia.**

**She had sat up straight. Ron and Hermione looked at her with similar mixtures of resignation and defiance.**

"Oh bugger... you're going to try and discourage us aren't you," Ron groaned. "Don't bother Soph; it's not going to work."

**"****I know you said after Dumbledore's funeral that you wanted to come with me," Sophia began.**

**"****Here she goes," Ron said to Hermione, rolling his eyes.**

**"****As we knew she would," she sighed,**

"Well, sorry I'm so predictable," Sophia pouted and Ron and Hermione rolled their eyes before chuckling.

**turning back to the books. "You know, I think I **_**will **_**take **_**Hogwarts, A History. **_**Even if we're not going back there, I don't think I'd feel right if I didn't have it with –"**

"Told you," Ron said smugly as Hermione made a face and several people sniggered.

**"****Listen!" said Sophia again.**

**"****No, Sophia, **_**you **_**listen," said Hermione.**

"Oh Sophia, you've got her angry at you," Ron said. "It's best to just lie down and take it or you'll argue with her for hours."

"I'll take that into consideration," Sophia said barely able to hide her smile, only made more difficult because Hermione had crossed her arms and looked a little too offended by Ron's comments. "You are after all the expert on having rows with Hermione."

**"****We're coming with you. That was decided months ago – years, really."**

**"****But –"**

**"****Shut up," Ron advised her.**

**"– ****are you sure you've thought this through?" Sophia persisted.**

**"****Let's see," said Hermione, slamming **_**Travels with Trolls **_**onto the discarded pile with a rather fierce look.**

"I did try to warn you," Ron sighed.

**"****I've been packing for days, so we're ready to leave at a moment's notice, which for your information has included doing some pretty difficult magic, not to mention smuggling Mad-Eye's whole stock of Polyjuice Potion right under Ron's mum's nose."**

"Hmph," Molly huffed indignantly there.

**"****I've also modified my parents' memories**

Hermione gasped at that as everyone in the room looked at her stunned.

"Why would I do that?" Hermione mumbled, her lips tumbling a little, she couldn't image doing anything like that to her parents now.

"It's okay Mione," Ron said putting his arm on her shoulder and was surprised when she leaned into him.

"I would imagine that you had to do something like this so that your parents would be safe," Dumbledore said. "Everyone knows how close you are to Sophia, it is safe to say that they would go to all lengths to find your parents and see whether they know anything about Sophia or if they could help them in other means..."

"No," Hermione started to tear up at that and Ron put his other arm around her and glared at Dumbledore, he didn't have to say all that. What good did it do? It just made Hermione more upset.

**so that they're convinced they're really called Wendell and Monica Wilkins, and that their life's ambition is to move to Australia, which they have now done. That's to make it more difficult for Voldemort to track them down and interrogate them about me – or you, because unfortunately, I've told them quite a bit about you.**

**"****Assuming I survive our hunt for the Horcruxes, I'll find Mum and Dad and lift the enchantment. If I don't – well, I think I've cast a good enough charm to keep them safe and happy. Wendell and Monica Wilkins don't know that they've got a daughter, you see."**

Hermione shivered at that and grabbed both Ron and Sophia's hands.

**Hermione's eyes were swimming with tears again. Ron got back off the bed, put his arm around her once more, and frowned at Sophia as though reproaching her for lack of tact. Sophia could not think of anything to say, not least because it was highly unusual for Ron to be teaching anyone else tact.**

Several people snorted at that; that was so true. When Hermione started to giggle though, Ron huffed and took his hand out of her and crossed his arms. Though he had to admit it was nice that she didn't look quite as upset as she was a second ago.

**"****I – Hermione, I'm sorry – I didn't –"**

**"****Didn't realize that Ron and I know perfectly well what might happen if we come with you? Well, we do. Ron, show Sophia what you've done."**

**"****Nah, he's just eaten," said Ron.**

"Oh dear, what have you done?" Molly groaned.

**"****Go on, he needs to know!"**

**"****Oh, all right. Soph, come here."**

**For the second time Ron withdrew his arm from around Hermione and stumped over to the door.**

**"****C'mon."**

**"****Why?" Sophia asked, following Ron out of the room onto the tiny landing.**

**"**_**Descendo**_**," muttered Ron, pointing his wand at the low ceiling. A hatch opened right over their heads and a ladder slid down to their feet. A horrible, half-sucking, half-moaning sound came out of the square hole, along with an unpleasant smell like open drains.**

**"****That's your ghoul, isn't it?" asked Sophia, who had never actually met the creature that sometimes disrupted the nightly silence.**

**"****Yeah, it is," said Ron, climbing the ladder. "Come and have a look at him."**

**Sophia followed Ron up the few short steps into the tiny attic space. Her head and shoulders were in the room before she caught sight of the creature curled up a few feet from her, fast asleep in the gloom with its large mouth wide open.**

**"****But it . . . it looks . . . do ghouls normally wear pajamas?"**

"No they don't," Sirius said laughing, "I think I know where this is going... nice plan."

"What?" Ron said, not seeing what was going on but several other people looked like they were putting the pieces together, too. They all looked like they agree with Sirius assessment.

**"****No," said Ron. "Nor have they usually got red hair or that number of pustules."**

**Sophia contemplated the thing, slightly revolted. It was human in shape and size, and was wearing what, now that Sophia's eyes became used to the darkness, was clearly an old pair of Ron's pajamas. She was also sure that ghouls were generally rather slimy and bald, rather than distinctly hairy and covered in angry purple blisters.**

**"****He's me, see?" said Ron.**

"Ah yes, I can really see the likeness," Fred chuckled and Ron glared at him.

**"****No," said Sophia. "I don't."**

**"****I'll explain it back in my room, the smell's getting to me," said Ron. They climbed back down the ladder, which Ron returned to the ceiling, and rejoined Hermione, who was still sorting books.**

**"****Once we've left, the ghoul's going to come and live down here in my room," said Ron. "I think he's really looking forward to it – well, it's hard to tell, because all he can do is moan and drool – but he nods a lot when you mention it. Anyway, he's going to be me with spattergroit. Good, eh?"**

"Oh come on Sophia, it's not hard to get now," Hermione said. "It is rather a good idea."

**Sophia merely looked her confusion.**

**"****It is!" said Ron, clearly frustrated that Sophia had not grasped the brilliance of the plan. "Look, when we three don't turn up at Hogwarts again, everyone's going to think Hermione and I must be with you, right?**

"Obviously," everyone in the room said.

**Which means the Death Eaters will go straight for our families to see if they've got information on where you are."**

"Very true," Dumbledore said.

"Um... wouldn't they go after my parents like they would..." Ron started to ask, looking at Hermione and not wanting to continue. "Will this be enough to protect them?"

Molly looked at her youngest son mournfully; she was supposed to protect him not the other way around.

"I think it should suffice," Dumbledore said.

**"****We can't hide my whole family, it'll look too fishy and they can't all leave their jobs," said Ron. "So we're going to put out the story that I'm seriously ill with spattergroit, which is why I can't go back to school. If anyone comes calling to investigate, Mum or Dad can show them the ghoul in my bed, covered in pustules. Spattergroit's really contagious, so they're not going to want to go near him. It won't matter that he can't say anything, either, because apparently you can't once the fungus has spread to your uvula."**

"Well that's that... it should work out brilliantly!" Sirius smiled.

**"****And your mum and dad are in on this plan?" asked Sophia.**

**"****Dad is. He helped Fred and George transform the ghoul. Mum . . . well, you've seen what she's like. She won't accept we're going till we're gone."**

More glares from Molly.

**There was silence in the room, broken only by gentle thuds as Hermione continued to throw books onto one pile or the other. Ron sat watching her, and Sophia looked from one to the other, unable to say anything. The measure they had taken to protect their families made her realize, more than anything else could have done, that they really were going to come with her and that they knew exactly how dangerous that would be. She wanted to tell them what that meant to her, but she simply could not find words important enough.**

**Through the silence came the muffled sounds of Mrs. Weasley shouting from four floors below.**

"You can't really hear me for that high up, can you?" Molly said.

All her children looked at her incredulously before they said, "Yes."

**"****Ginny's probably left a speck of dust on a poxy napkin ring," said Ron.**

Molly again glared at her son, who just shrugged, that seemed like a fair observation to him.

**"****I dunno why the Delacours have got to come two days before the wedding."**

**"****Fleur's sister's a bridesmaid, she needs to be here for the rehearsal, and she's too young to come on her own," said Hermione, as she poured indecisively over **_**Break with a Banshee**_**.**

**"****Well, guests aren't going to help Mum's stress levels," said Ron.**

"Hmph," Molly huffed again.

"I'm just worried about you mum, is that so bad," Ron said to her with an innocent expression.

"Don't give me that look," Molly said sharply.

**"****What we really need to decide," said Hermione, tossing **_**Defensive Magical Theory **_**into the bin without a second glance**

"My question is, why didn't you throw that rubbish out ages ago?" George said making a face.

"I don't know," Hermione said.

"Honestly, I think you should throw it out now," Fred added.

"But we're still using it for our... lack of a better word... Defense classes, I can't throw it away now!" Hermione said looking appalled.

"Hermione, you already read and memorized the whole book," Sophia said and Hermione rolled her eyes at that. "I don't think you need it anymore."

"You actually read that book!" Fred said making a face.

"What do you do for lessons if you already read the book?" George added.

"What do you mean by that?" McGonagall asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, that's all she has us do in class, read that awful book and take stupid test on the material," Ron groaned, it had to be the most boring thing he could image sitting there trying to read the rot that was in that book.

"I always feared what her '_teaching_' style would be like," McGonagall said looking appalled. "But really, reading the books... argh!"

"I know," Dumbledore sighed gravely. "I wish there was someone, anyone that was willing to take the job but it seemed to be unusually difficult for me to do so this year. I daresay that even a fifth year student would have been a better teacher than her." He was now looking at Sophia, his eyes twinkling with amusing.

Sophia fidgeted as Molly glared at her and the Weasley children, Hermione, Sirius, Remus and Tonks laughed.

**and picking up **_**An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe**_**, "is where we're going after we leave here. I know you said you wanted to go to Godric's Hollow first,**

"Why would you want to go there?" George asked.

"It's where..." Sophia started, trying to think of what to say to that. "I lived with my parents..."

"Oh," George said, now regretting bringing that up.

"It was a nice little cottage," Sirius smiled, "James went a little mad being stuck there all the time but at least he lived in a lovely town."

"Yeah, well the house isn't much to look at anymore," Remus said, he had gone back to Godric's Hollow once when the statue of his friends was put up. He had decided to look at the cottage but all he had to see was the hole in the roof to know that he never wanted to go there again. "It was left in the shape it was in after..."

It was clear that Remus couldn't say anything more on that as he clutch his hands into fist so Tonks added, "It's kind of a monument now."

**Sophia, and I understand why, but . . . well . . . shouldn't we make the Horcruxes our priority?"**

**"****If we knew where any of the Horcruxes were, I'd agree with you," said Sophia, who did not believe that Hermione really understood her desire to return to Godric's Hollow. Her parents' graves were only part of the attraction: She had a strong, though inexplicable, feeling that the place held answers for her. Perhaps it was simply because it was there that she had survived Voldemort's Killing Curse; now that she was facing the challenge of repeating the feat,**

Everyone in the room shivered at that.

"Do you really think you can?" Tonks asked.

"You mean like I did the first time... I don't think so," Sophia said. "Voldemort has found a way to get past my mum's protections..."

"Your mum's protections?" a few people asked, looking confused.

"Er..." Sophia said looking uncomfortable and looking at Dumbledore to see if she should actually be telling them this.

Dumbledore nodded his head and Sophia explained briefly about what her mum did to save her when she was a baby. However, Dumbledore wasn't thinking of this, he was thinking about what Voldemort had done to regain his body and he couldn't help but disagree with Sophia. He was sure that the blood protection that was in Sophia was now stronger than it ever has been. Enough, he was sure, to be able to save Sophia for the terrible fate that Dumbledore had fear she would have to have for a while now. When Sophia was done talking Tonks started reading again.

**Sophia was drawn to the place where it had happened, wanting to understand.**

**"****Don't you think there's a possibility that Voldemort's keeping a watch on Godric's Hollow?" Hermione asked.**

"It's very likely he would," Remus said.

"It is a spot that the Dark Lord knows Potter is likely to show up," Snape agreed.

**"****He might expect you to go back and visit your parents' graves once you're free to go wherever you like?"**

**This had not occurred to Sophia.**

"Well of course it didn't," Ron said. "Honestly Soph, how do you think you're going to make it through anything without Mione helping you?"

"I don't know what I was thinking," Sophia chuckled. "I really do need you two."

"Still, I don't know if you're all going to make it out of this," Fred said.

"Yeah, I'm sure Ron and Hermione are going to kill each other with one of the rows they're sure to have," George added.

"Or annoy poor Sophia to death," Charlie added.

"They might have a point Sophia," Ron chuckled. "Perhaps I shouldn't go with you."

"It's not..." Sophia started to say until she looked at Ron. He looked like he was joking but Sophia couldn't help but get the feeling that her friend was being a little more serious than was good for him. "Ron..."

"Come on Soph, it's a joke," Ron rolled his eyes, feeling uncomfortable. "There's no place I'd rather be."

"Yeah," Sophia said seeing that her friend was telling the truth, but then again Sophia wasn't questioning that. Still, there was definitely something Ron wasn't telling him and Sophia couldn't figure out what it was.

**While she struggled to find a counterargument, Ron spoke up, evidently following his own train of thought.**

**"****This R.A.B. person," he said.**

Sirius shifted uncomfortably and wondered again if it was his brother.

Remus looked at him and wrapped a comforting arm around him.

**"****You know, the one who stole the real locket?"**

**Hermione nodded.**

**"****He said in his note he was going to destroy it, didn't he?"**

**Sophia dragged her rucksack toward her and pulled out the fake Horcrux in which R.A.B.'s note was still folded.**

**"'**_**I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.'**_**" Sophia read out.**

"And that would be a good thing, right?" Sirius asked Dumbledore, who nodded his head. "And what kind of person would write a note like that."

"Hm..." Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "I would think there are many different kinds of people could have written a note like this, though of course they would have to be involved with Voldemort in some way."

"Like my brother?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore paused for a long time, thinking that over and finally he said, "Yes, I do believe one of Voldemort's supporter that have been disenchanted by the Dark Lord might want to do something like this. He would have to have a very powerful change of mind to go against Voldemort like this. However, Regulus was always braver than most and never struck me as someone that would believe in all of Voldemort's ideals... he might..."

"Right," Sirius said. "I suppose we'll just have to see if this is him."

**"****Well, what if he **_**did **_**finish it off?" said Ron.**

**"****Or she." Interposed Hermione.**

**"****Whichever," said Ron. "It'd be one less for us to do!"**

"Unfortunately Mr. Weasley, it's not as simple as that," Dumbledore said. "You have to know that all of the Horcruxes are destroyed."

**"****Yes, but we're still going to have to try and trace the real locket, aren't we?" said Hermione, "to find out whether or not it's destroyed."**

**"****And once we get hold of it, how **_**do **_**you destroy a Horcrux?" asked Ron.**

Dumbledore grimaced at that; this was something that they should know. He must not have realized that he was going to die when he did.

**"****Well," said Hermione, "I've been researching that."**

"Really?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at that wondering how she would have gotten a book on Horcruxes.

"Why are you so surprised? Mione researches everything!" Ron said and Hermione glared at him as she blushed a little. Before anyone could say else about this Tonks started reading again.

**"****How?" asked Sophia. "I didn't think there were any books on Horcruxes in the library?"**

"I believe that is why Dumbledore was surprised about this," Tonks smiled.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ron chuckled.

**"****They weren't," said Hermione, who had turned pink.**

"Ah, I sense something good coming," Fred said.

"Yes, perhaps Hermione has done something that we'd be proud of," George chuckled.

**"****Dumbledore removed them all, but he – he didn't destroy them." Ron sat up straight, wide-eyed.**

Dumbledore sighed, perhaps he should have destroyed the books, then again, it seems like they would help Sophia with what she has to do, so it wasn't so bad. Sophia, Ron and Hermione wouldn't be interesting in making a Horcrux after all.

**"****How in the name of Merlin's pants have you managed to get your hands on those Horcrux books?"**

**"****It – it wasn't stealing!" said Hermione,**

Everyone laughed at that.

"Which means that she really believes it is stealing," Ginny chuckled.

"Oh shut up," Hermione said blushing.

**looking from Sophia to Ron with a kind of desperation. "They were still library books, even if Dumbledore had taken them off the shelves. Anyway, if he **_**really **_**didn't want anyone to get at them, I'm sure he would have made it much harder to –"**

**"****Get to the point!" said Ron.**

**"****Well . . . it was easy," said Hermione in a small voice. "I just did a Summoning Charm. You know – Accio. And – they zoomed out of Dumbledore's study window right into the girls' dormitory."**

"Dumbledore really, I would think you would have a better protection on those books if they are as dangerous as they seemed to be," McGonagall told him sharply.

"You are right of course," Dumbledore agreed.

**"****But when did you do this?" Sophia asked, regarding Hermione with a mixture of admiration and incredulity.**

"Ah, just stick with admiration!" Fred said. "I'm rather impressed with her after all."

**"****Just after his – Dumbledore's – funeral," said Hermione in an even smaller voice. "Right after we agreed we'd leave school and go and look for the Horcruxes. When I went back upstairs to get my things it – it just occurred to me that the more we knew about them, the better it would be . . .**

"Pretty much your theory on everything," Ron grumbled.

"Well, am I wrong about that?" Hermione asked and when Ron stayed silent and to that she smirked.

**and I was alone in there . . . so I tried . . . and it worked. They flew straight in through the open window and I – I packed them."**

**She swallowed and then said imploringly, "I can't believe Dumbledore would have been angry, it's not as though we're going to use the information to make a Horcrux, is it?"**

"No, in these circumstances that is quite true," Dumbledore said gravely, "still, it would have been better if you didn't have to know what this is."

Hermione nodded her head, dying to ask what a Horcrux was again but didn't, he had said he would answer her questions after the chapter was done.

**"****Can you hear us complaining?" said Ron. "Where are these books anyway?"**

**Hermione rummaged for a moment and then extracted from the pile a large volume, bound in faded black leather. She looked a little nauseated and held it as gingerly as if it were something recently dead.**

**"****This is the one that gives explicit instructions on how to make a Horcrux. **_**Secrets of the Darkest Art **_**– it's a horrible book, really awful, full of evil magic. I wonder when Dumbledore removed it from the library. . . . if he didn't do it until he was headmaster, I bet Voldemort got all the instruction he needed from here."**

"Yes, that is what I believe as well," Dumbledore said.

**"****Why did he have to ask Slughorn how to make a Horcrux, then, if he'd already read that?" asked Ron.**

**"****He only approached Slughorn to find out what would happen if you split your soul into seven," said Sophia.**

Dumbledore smiled at that and Sirius made a horrified face. How could anyone make seven Horcruxes?

"What is it sir?" Sophia asked, noticing the smile.

"I have just been trying to learn how many Horcruxes Voldemort had made for a long time now and it's nice to finally know," Dumbledore explained.

**"****Dumbledore was sure Riddle already knew how to make a Horcrux by the time he asked Slughorn about them. I think you're right, Hermione, that could easily have been where he got the information."**

**"****And the more I've read about them," Said Hermione, "the more horrible they seem, and the less I can believe that he actually made six.**

"Seriously, that is disturbing," Sirius groan, making a face.

"Indeed, it is," Dumbledore said, this time showing the displeasure he felt about this.

"Will you stop saying thing like that if you're not going to tell us what a Horcrux is?" Remus said annoyed, their comments was just making him more and more curious.

"I shall try," Dumbledore said almost looking amused, and Sirius started sniggering which meant that he was going to do the exact opposite.

**It warns in this book how unstable you make the rest of your soul by ripping it, and that's just by making one Horcrux!"**

"Ripping your soul," Remus said looking disgusted, as did most people here.

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Horcrux is a piece of one's soul that is placed into an object for safe keeping. The theory behind this is that one cannot be killed as long as that piece of soul survives."

"So, he ripped his soul into pieces..." Remus said looking more appalled than ever.

"Well, obviously it worked," Draco said.

"Yes, it worked, but at what expense?" Dumbledore said looking the blonde haired boy over closely. "There is little of the man that he once was... he has lost everything that has made him human."

**Sophia remembered what Dumbledore had said about Voldemort moving beyond "usual evil."**

**"****Isn't there any way of putting yourself back together?" Ron asked.**

**"****Yes," said Hermione with a hollow smile, "but it would be excruciatingly painful."**

**"****Why? How do you do it?" asked Sophia.**

**"****Remorse," said Hermione.**

"Ha!" everyone seemed to give a snort of disbelief at that.

**"****You've got to really feel what you've done. There's a footnote. Apparently the pain of it can destroy you. I can't see Voldemort attempting it somehow, can you?"**

**"****No," said Ron, before Sophia could answer. "So does it say how to destroy Horcruxes in that book?"**

**"****Yes," said Hermione, now turning the fragile pages as if examining rotting entrails, "because it warns Dark wizards how strong they have to make the enchantments on them. From all that I've read, what Sophia did to Riddle's diary**

Ginny gasped at that and pale considerably.

"T-that was a H-horcrux!" Ginny whimpered.

Bill and Charlie both looked at their sister a little oddly, concerned as to why she was acting like this, she never showed fear like this before. They of course knew about their sister being in danger her first year but they didn't know all the details. In fact Fred, George and Percy didn't really know about the dairy either but they had a much better idea why this would affect their baby sister so much. Ron on the other hand knew exactly what happened and he was mad at himself again for not doing more for her that first year.

"Yes," Dumbledore confirmed, wishing the girl wouldn't have to know about this. It was bad enough that she had to go through that horror in her first year, but to know this along with everything else just had to make this worst.

**was one of the few really foolproof ways of destroying a Horcrux."**

**"****What, stabbing it with a basilisk fang?" asked Sophia.**

**"****Oh well, lucky we've got such a large supply of basilisk fangs, then," said Ron. "I was wondering what we were going to do with them."**

Hermione rolled her eyes; _will he always be such a git?_

**"****It doesn't have to be a basilisk fang," said Hermione patiently. "It has to be something so destructive that the Horcrux can't repair itself. Basilisk venom only has one antidote, and it's incredibly rare –"**

**"****Phoenix tears," Sophia said.**

"Er... why do you know that?" Sirius asked looking at Sophia shocked, it sounded like she knew from experience.

"Er... you don't know that, do you?" Sophia said nervously.

"What don't I know?" Sirius asked.

"Er... I sort of killed a basilisk in my second year..." Sophia said.

"What?" Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Bill, Charlie and Fleur gasped.

"No wonder you did so well in the tournament," Fleur muttered to herself.

"Merlin's Beard Sophia, how are you alive?" Charlie asked.

"Why would you ever face a basilisk?" Remus asked, looking terrified.

"To save me," Ginny answered, and everyone looked at her but she tried to push it off. "I was taken into the Chamber of Secret... no it was worse than that..."

"It's okay Gin, I can take it from here," Sophia smiled weakly at her and she nodded her head as she did so she noticed her mum get up and walk over to her. As much as she wanted to stay strong it was nice to have her mum hold her... besides she was making her mum feel better, there was nothing wrong with that.

"When Ron and I heard that she was taken by Slytherin's heir..." Sophia started to say.

"Isn't Slytherin's heir, Voldemort... oh," Remus said, that was why she was so effected when the diary was mentioned... it must have somehow been involved and was the reason why Ginny was down there. Knowing what a Horcrux was, Remus could only imagine the horrors the diary did to the girl.

"Yes," Sophia answered. "Anyways, me and Ron had to go down the sewers to save Ginny; we didn't really have any other choice, did we?"

"Right," Sirius said gulping, he thought what happened in the last two years were extremely dangerous adventures, and of course they were, but he never imagined that Sophia's other school years would be just as dangerous. "I understand of course it's just..."

"Did you know that you were going to face a basilisk?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, we did," Ron said. "Thanks to Mione that is."

"Yeah, she even managed to help us even though she was petrified at the time," Sophia chuckled.

"You were petrified?" Remus gasped. "That means you had to have seen the basilisk... well not directly of course or you would have been killed but you had to have seen its reflection."

"Yes, in a mirror, that was right after I found out what Slytherin monster was," Hermione answered him.

"I can't believe it," Remus shook his head. "Sophia how did you manage..."

"I had help," Sophia said and Ron and Hermione rolled their eyes, they've heard that one before. "Fawkes came with the sorting hat..."

"The sorting hat! How did that help?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I sort of pulled Gryffindor's sword out of it," Sophia said and Sirius eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Cool!" Sirius said.

"Merlin, that is quite amazing!" Charlie said. "You're a true Gryffindor that's for sure!"

"Okay," Sophia said uncomfortable about being praised like that. "Anyways, I killed the basilisk with the sword, but one of its fangs got me. Don't worry, Fawkes healed me in a second and then I stabbed the diary with the fang and Tom Riddle sort of disappeared..."

"What? What's this about Tom Riddle?" Remus asked confused.

"Tom Riddle is Lord Voldemort's given name," Dumbledore said. "And through the power of the diary he was able to... let just say, take a form."

"Okay," Remus looking pale, "I guess we should start reading again."

**"– ****phoenix tears," said Sophia, nodding.**

**"****Exactly," said Hermione. "Our problem is that there are very few substances as destructive as basilisk venom, and they're all dangerous to carry around with you. That's a problem we're going to have to solve, though, because ripping, smashing, or crushing a Horcrux won't do the trick. You've got to put it beyond magical repair."**

**"****But even if we wreck the thing it lives in," said Ron, "why can't the bit of soul in it just go and live in something else?"**

**"****Because a Horcrux is the complete opposite of a human being."**

"Er... you lost me?" Ron said.

"Something I'm sure you had to have heard a million times before," George chuckled.

"Shut up," Ron hissed.

**Seeing that Sophia and Ron looked thoroughly confused, Hermione hurried on. "Look, if I picked up a sword right now, Ron, and ran you through with it, I wouldn't damage your soul at all."**

"Do you often thinking about doing that, Hermione?" Fred questioned.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

**"****Which would be a real comfort to me, I'm sure," said Ron. Sophia laughed.**

**"****It should be, actually! But my point is that whatever happens to your body, your soul will survive, untouched," said Hermione. "But it's the other way round with a Horcrux. The fragment of soul inside it depends on its container, its enchanted body, for survival. It can't exist without it."**

**"****That diary sort of died when I stabbed it," said Sophia, remembering ink pouring like blood from the punctured pages, and the screams of the piece of Voldemort's soul as it vanished.**

Ginny shivered uncontrollable at that.

**"****And once the diary was properly destroyed, the bit of soul trapped in it could no longer exist. Ginny tried to get rid of the diary before you did; flushing it away, but obviously it came back good as new."**

**"****Hang on," said Ron, frowning. "The bit of soul in that diary was possessing Ginny, wasn't it?**

"Git," Ginny hissed at him.

"Sorry," Ron bowed his head. "But honestly, it's not like I'm actually talking to you about this."

"True," Ginny sighed, "I just..."

"I understand."

**How does that work, then?"**

**"****While the magical container is still intact, the bit of soul inside it can flit in and out of someone if they get too close to the object. I don't mean holding it for too long, it's nothing to do with touching it," she added before Ron could speak. "I mean close emotionally. Ginny poured her heart out into that diary, she made herself incredibly vulnerable.**

"I'm sorry," Hermione moaned and she could feel Ginny's glare on her. She knew that Ginny wouldn't want her telling anyone that she was incredibly vulnerable.

**You're in trouble if you get too fond of or dependent on the Horcrux."**

**"****I wonder how Dumbledore destroyed the ring" said Sophia. "Why didn't I ask him? I never really . . ."**

**Her voice trailed away: She was thinking of all the things she should have asked Dumbledore, and of how, since the headmaster had died, it seemed to Sophia that she had wasted so many opportunities when Dumbledore had been alive, to find out more . . . to find out everything. . . .**

"I do not know everything," Dumbledore said.

"No, but I'm sure you know as close to everything as anyone could get," Sirius said.

"Maybe, but give Hermione a few more years and she'll give even Dumbledore a run for his money with that," Ron teased and Hermione rolled her eyes.

**The silence was shattered as the bedroom door flew open with a wall-shaking crash. Hermione shrieked and dropped **_**Secrets of the Darkest Art**_**; Crookshanks streaked under the bed, hissing indignantly; Ron jumped off the bed, skidded on a discarded Chocolate Frog wrapper, and smacked his head on the opposite wall; and Sophia instinctively dived for her wand before realizing that she was looking up at Mrs. Weasley, whose hair was disheveled and whose face was contorted with rage.**

"Busted!" Fred and George both said looking amused.

**"****I'm so sorry to break up this cozy little gathering," she said, her voice trembling. "I'm sure you all need your rest . . . but there are wedding presents stacked in my room that need sorting out and I was under the impression that you had agreed to help."**

**"****Oh yes," said Hermione, looking terrified as she leapt to her feet, sending books flying in every direction. "We will . . . we're sorry . . ."**

"Well, so much for your sorting the books, ah Mione?" Ron chuckled.

**With an anguished look at Sophia and Ron, Hermione hurried out of the room after Mrs. Weasley.**

**"****It's like being a house-elf," complained Ron in an undertone, still massaging his head as he and Sophia followed. "Except without the job satisfaction. The sooner this wedding's over, the happier, I'll be."**

"You are such a git!" Hermione was glaring at Ron for saying that and he just rolled his eyes.

**"****Yeah," said Sophia, "then we'll have nothing to do except find Horcruxes. . . It'll be like a holiday, won't it?"**

"Don't joke about that!" Molly snapped at Sophia, just as she would have if any of her children had said that.

**Ron started to laugh, but at the sight of the enormous pile of wedding presents waiting for them in Mrs. Weasley's room, stopped quite abruptly.**

**The Delacours arrived the following morning at eleven o' clock. Sophia, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were feeling quite resentful toward Fleur's family by this time;**

"Hmph," Fleur huffed.

"I'm sure it's just because of all the work we had to do," Sophia assured her and she softened her expression slightly.

**and it was with ill grace that Ron stumped back upstairs to put on matching socks**.

**Once they had all been deemed smart enough, they trooped out into the sunny backyard to await the visitors.**

**Sophia had never seen the place looking so tidy. The rusty cauldrons and old Wellington boots that usually littered the steps by the back door were gone, replaced by two new Flutterby bushes standing either side of the door in large pots; though there was no breeze, the leaves waved lazily, giving an attractive rippling effect. The chickens had been shut away, the yard had been swept, and the nearby garden had been pruned, plucked, and generally spruced up, although Sophia, who liked it in its overgrown state, thought that it looked rather forlorn without its usual contingent of capering gnomes**.

"Well, I think it looks lovely," Molly said slightly dreamily, she wished it could always be in that state.

**She had lost track of how many security enchantments had been placed upon the Burrow by both the Order and the Ministry; all she knew was that it was no longer possible for anybody to travel by magic directly into the place. Mr. Weasley had therefore gone to meet the Delacours on top of a nearby hill, where they were to arrive by Portkey. The first sound of their approach was an unusually high-pitched laugh, which turned out to be coming from Mr. Weasley,**

Molly narrowed her eyes at her husband, wondering why he would be laughing like that.

**who appeared at the gate moments later, laden with luggage and leading a beautiful blonde woman in long, leaf green robes, who could be Fleur's mother.**

**"****Maman!" cried Fleur, rushing forward to embrace her. "Papa!"**

**Monsieur Delacour was nowhere near as attractive as his wife; he was a head shorter and extremely plumb, with a little, pointed black beard.**

"Really," several people said surprised by that and Fleur looked affronted at all of them.

"My Papa is a good man, it doesn't matter what he looks like," Fleur said haughty. "We do not only care about looks in my family!"

Bill sighed as he wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, he hoped that his family would stop being surprised by things like this, he knew that Fleur was a lot more compassionate than she appeared to be.

**However, he looked good-natured. **

This made Fleur beam at Sophia.

**Bouncing towards Mrs. Weasley on high-heeled boots, he kissed her twice on each cheek, leaving her flustered.**

"Why are you all flustered mum?" Fred said waggling his eyebrows.

**"****You 'ave been so much trouble," he said in a deep voice. "Fleur tells us you 'ave been working very 'ard."**

**"Oh, it's been nothing, nothing!" trilled Mrs. Weasley. "No trouble at all!"**

All the Weasleys looked at their mum incredulously at that comment.

**Ron relieved his feelings by aiming a kick at a gnome who was peering out from behind one of the new Flutterby bushes.**

**"****Dear lady!" said Monsieur Delacour, still holding Mrs. Weasley's hand between his own two plump ones and beaming. "We are most honored at the approaching union of our two families! Let me present my wife, Apolline."**

**Madame Delacour glided forward and stooped to kiss Mrs. Weasley too.**

**"**_**Enchantée**_**," she said. "Your 'usband 'as been telling us such amusing stories!"**

**Mr. Weasley gave a maniacal laugh; Mrs. Weasley threw him a look, upon which he became immediately silent and assumed an expression appropriate to the sickbed of a close friend.**

Everyone was laughing about that except for the eldest Weasleys.

**"****And, of course, you 'ave met my leetle daughter, Gabrielle!" said Monsieur Delacour. Gabrielle was Fleur in miniature; eleven years old, with waist-length hair of pure, silvery blonde, she gave Mrs. Weasley a dazzling smile and hugged her, then saw Sophia and wrapped her arms around her with a squeal.**

"Aww" Sirius cooed making his goddaughter throw him a nasty glare that he knew had come from her mother.

**"****Well, come in, do!" said Mrs. Weasley brightly, and she ushered the Delacours into the house, with many "No, please!"s and "After you!"s and "Not at all!"s.**

**The Delacours, it soon transpired, were helpful, pleasant guests. They were pleased with everything and keen to assist with the preparations for the wedding. Monsieur Delacour pronounced everything from the seating plan to the bridesmaids' shoes "**_**Charmant!**_**" Madame Delacour was most accomplished at household spells and had the oven properly cleaned in a trice; Gabrielle followed her elder sister around, trying to assist in any way she could and jabbering away in rapid French.**

Fleur sighed, she really did miss her family, but it was nice hearing about them.

**On the downside, the Burrow was not built to accommodate so many people. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were now sleeping in the sitting room, having shouted down Monsieur and Madame Delacour's protests and insisted they take their bedroom. Gabrielle was sleeping with Fleur in Percy's old room, and Bill would be sharing with Charlie, his best man,**

"I'm honored," Charlie smiled at Bill.

"I suppose you're the best choice out of all you gits," Bill shrugged and all of his other brothers glared at him.

**once Charlie arrived from Romania. Opportunities to make plans together became virtually nonexistent, and it was in desperation that Sophia, Ron and Hermione took to volunteering to feed the chickens just to escape the overcrowded house.**

**"****But she **_**still **_**won't leave us alone!" snarled Ron, and their second attempt at a meeting in the yard was foiled by the appearance of Mrs. Weasley carrying a large basket of laundry in her arms.**

"Well, of course not, you didn't think it would be that easy!" Molly huffed.

**"****Oh, good, you've fed the chickens," she called as she approached them. "We'd better shut them away again before the men arrive tomorrow . . . to put up the tent for the wedding," she explained, pausing to lean against the henhouse. She looked exhausted. "Millamant's Magic Marquees . . . they're very good. Bill's escorting them. . . . You'd better stay inside while they're here, Sophia. I must say it does complicate organizing a wedding, having all these security spells around the place."**

Molly bit her lip at that; how could she be so careless as saying that in front of Sophia?

**"****I'm sorry," said Sophia humbly.**

**"****Oh, don't be silly, dear!" said Mrs. Weasley at once. "I didn't mean – well, your safety's much more important! Actually, I've wanted to ask you how you want to celebrate your birthday, Sophia. Seventeen, after all, it's an important day. . . ."**

**"****I don't want a fuss," said Sophia quickly, envisaging the additional strain this would put on them all.**

"Oh dear, you don't have to worry about that," Molly said sadly.

"It's alright Mrs. Weasley, honestly," Sophia said. "Just being at the Burrow would make it my best birthday ever. Well except maybe my eleventh when I found out I was a wizard."

"**Really, Mrs. Weasley, just a normal dinner would be fine. . . . It's the day before the wedding..."**

**"****Oh, well, if you're sure, dear. I'll invite Sirius, Remus, Kingsley and Tonks, shall I? And how about Hagrid?"**

"Yeah, I'd like that," Sophia smiled, that would mean just about everyone she cared about would be there.

**"****That'd be great," said Sophia. "But please, don't go to loads of trouble."**

**"****Not at all, not at all . . . It's no trouble. . . ."**

**She looked at her, a long, searching look, then smiled a little sadly, straightened up, and walked away. Sophia watched as she waved her wand near the washing line, and the damp clothes rose into the air to hang themselves up, and suddenly he felt a great wave of remorse for the inconvenience and the pain she was giving her.**

"Sophia!" Molly rolled her eyes and looked at her sadly.

"Don't bother Mum, nothing you can say will change her, trust me I've tried," Ron said.

"That was the end of the chapter, who wants to read next?" Tonks asked.

"I'll take that," Sirius took the book from her smirking; "I have a good feeling about this chapter."


	7. Chapter 7: The Will of Albus Dumbledore

**Disclaimer: I do not own.**

* * *

**"****The Will of Albus Dumbledore," **Sirius read.

**She was walking along a mountain road in the cool blue light of dawn. Far below, swathed in mist, was the shadow of a small town. Was the man she sought down there, the man she needed so badly she could think of little else, the man who held the answer, the answer to her problem...?**

**"Oi, wake up."**

Sophia grimaced at this, she was dreaming and she had a feeling that it wasn't her own dream. At least it wasn't as bad as most of her dreams this year, but she wasn't happy that she was still going to be dreaming about Voldemort in the future.

**Sophia opened her eyes. She was lying again on the camp bed in Ron's dingy attic room. The sun had not yet risen and the room was still shadowy. Pigwidgeon was asleep with his head under his tiny wing. The scar on Sophia's forehead was prickling.**

**"You were muttering in your sleep."**

Now it was Ron's turn to grimace, Sophia didn't mutter very often in her sleep until this past year.

**"Was I?"**

**"Yeah. 'Gregorovitch.' You kept saying 'Gregorovitch.'"**

"The wand maker," Hermione said. "Why would you be dreaming about that?"

"The more important question is why would Voldemort be looking for Gregorovitch?" Remus said.

"Yeah, one would think that Ollivander would have been enough for him," Sirius added grimly. "Do you think this has something to do with the connection between Sophia's and Voldemort's wands?"

"What other reason would You-Know-Who have for wanting Gregorovitch?" Arthur questioned.

"If I'm right, I'm sure you'll see," Dumbledore said, his hand thumbing his own wand. It seemed likely that Voldemort was looking for the elder wand already.

**"Who's Gregorovitch?"**

**"I dunno, do I? You were the one saying it."**

"Honestly, don't you two ever read?" Hermione said rolling her eyes.

"No," they both said and then Ron added, "What's the point when we could just ask you?"

"The name does sound kind of familiar though," Sophia added thoughtfully.

"If I'm not mistaken Viktor's wand was a Gregorovitch," Fleur said.

"Yes, that's it," Sophia smiled and Ron was grimacing at the mention of Viktor.

**Sophia rubbed her forehead, thinking. She had a vague idea she had heard the name before, but she could not think where.**

"At least you're consistent Soph," Sirius chuckled.

**"I think Voldemort's looking for him."**

**"Poor bloke," said Ron fervently.**

"Poor bloke indeed," Bill said sadly, "If Voldemort's looking for you, you're just as good as dead.

**Sophia sat up, still rubbing her scar, now wide awake. She tried to remember exactly what she had seen in the dream, but all that came back was a mountainous horizon and the outline of the little village cradled in a deep valley.**

**"I think he's abroad."**

**"Who, Gregorovitch?"**

**"Voldemort. I think he's somewhere abroad, looking for Gregorovitch. It didn't look like anywhere in Britain."**

"Well that's good news at least," Molly said.

"Unfortunately, it would not take him long to get back here," Dumbledore said, though he thought it was good that Voldemort was investing this much time in a wand that would never be able to work properly for him. It would make Sophia's task that much easier with Voldemort splitting his attention like this.

**"You reckon you were seeing into his mind again?"**

**Ron sounded worried.**

"Well of course I was worried," Ron rolled his eyes. "Do you think I want that madman's thoughts in your head?"

**"Do me a favor and don't tell Hermione," said Sophia.**

Hermione frowned.

"I'm sorry," Sophia sighed, feeling awkward about apologizing about something that hasn't occurred yet. "I probably just didn't want you worrying about me."

"Or she didn't want you to nag," Ron added with a chuckle as Hermione glared at him.

"Still, this wasn't the smartest move to make if you want to know who Gregorovitch is," Sirius pointed out.

**"Although how she expects me to stop seeing stuff in my sleep..."**

"See... she didn't want you to nag..." Ron was now sniggering.

"Shut up," Hermione huffed.

**She gazed up at little Pigwidgeon's cage, thinking...Why was the name "Gregorovitch" familiar?**

**"I think," she said slowly, "he's got something to do with Quidditch. There's some connection, but I can't-I can't think what it is."**

**"Quidditch?" said Ron. "Sure you're not thinking of Gorgovitch?"**

"Argh," Ron groaned, he didn't want to hear about him.

His brothers where all sniggering at this, they remember how excited Ron was when this trade took place, and how he had moped when it turned out so awful.

"Who is he?" Sophia questioned looking bemused.

"It's in here, you don't have to explain," Sirius said with a frown, he, like Ron, liked the Cannons and didn't want to hear the bad news twice.

**"Who?"**

**"Dragomir Gorgovitch, Chaser, transferred to the Chudley Cannons for a record fee two years ago. Record holder for most Quaffle drops in a season."**

"Great," Ron groaned, he seemed liked he wasn't going to get any better... in fact it looked like he was only going to get worse.

**"No," said Sophia. "I'm definitely not thinking of Gorgovitch."**

**"I try not to either," said Ron. "Well, happy birthday anyway."**

"Yeah, Happy Birthday Prongslet!" Sirius said cheerfully.

"I would have thought even you would have known that it wasn't actually Potter's birthday, Black, but it seems I gave you too much credit," Snape sneered.

"I know it's not Sophia's birthday right now," Sirius said coldly to Snape.

**"Wow - that's right, I forgot! I'm seventeen!"**

"You really need to work on your memory Phia," George said making her blanche, when did he start calling her Phia?

"Yeah, remember when we first met you, you didn't even remember your name," Fred added as the room chuckled at that.

"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting to be known by everyone," Sophia rolled her eyes, and bit back the response that she actually wasn't used to people saying her name in the first place.

**Sophia seized the wand lying beside her camp bed, pointed it at the cluttered desk where she had left her glasses that she wore when she didn't have on her contacts, and said, "**_**Accio Glasses!**_**"**

Remus and Sirius chuckled at that.

"It's what your dad did when he turned seventeen," Remus explained to Sophia, who was looking confused by their laughter.

**Although they were only around a foot away, there was something immensely satisfying about seeing them zoom toward her, at least until they poked her in the eye.**

Everyone was laughing at that one.

"And that happened, too," Sirius added, laughing harder than anyone else.

**"Slick," snorted Ron.**

**Reveling in the removal of her Trace, Sophia sent Ron's possessions flying around the room, causing Pigwidgeon to wake up and flutter excitedly around his cage. Sophia also tried tying the laces of her trainers by magic (the resultant knot took several minutes to untie by hand) and, purely for the pleasure of it, turned the orange robes on Ron's Chudley Cannons posters bright blue.**

Ron glared at Sophia. "You did what?"

"Sorry," Sophia said chuckling.

**"I'd do your fly by hand, though," Ron advised Sophia, sniggering when Sophia immediately checked it.**

Several people were chuckling too and Sophia looked embarrassed.

**"Here's your present. Unwrap it up here, it's not for my mother's eyes."**

Molly glared at Ron, reserving her yell until she heard what it was.

Ron leaned back in his chair, hoping that it wasn't anything that would get him in real trouble.

**"A book?" said Sophia as she took the rectangular parcel. "Bit of a departure from tradition, isn't it?"**

**"This isn't your average book," said Ron. "Its pure gold: Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm People, Hexes, Jinxes and Charms. Explains everything you need to know what to do about anything."**

**"What about girls?" She asked innocently. "Because, hiding Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches, under your pillow, sticking out, isn't such a good place."**

Hermione snorted at that and Ron glared at her.

"Ah, that might be useful," Sirius nodded his head.

Bill smiled. "Dad gave me the Charming Witches book when I turned seventeen and I gave it to Charlie for his... and so on."

**"How'd you-If only I'd had this last year I'd have known exactly how to get rid of Lavender and I wouldn't have known how to get going with ...**

"You went out with Lavender!" Hermione said shocked, and looked at Ron and was disappointed—and not to mention hurt when she saw that he looked surprised but pleased with himself.

"It looks like it," Ron smiled. "I wonder how that happened."

"But obviously he wanted to ditch her," Sophia pointed out to Hermione, who was looking down. Something that everyone in the room noticed but Ron of course.

Hermione gave her a look that obviously tried to say that she didn't care about that but no one bought it.

Sirius, who was hoping for a little more drama, started reading again with a pout.

**and I would've known how to get going with... Well,**

Everyone was hoping that he would have said who he would be getting on with now, already knowing who it would be and that it would cheer up the atmosphere in this room but unfortunately that wasn't the case. In fact all this seemed to do was make Hermione glummer than she was before as she thought there was someone else that Ron liked that wasn't her.

Ron on the other hand shot a look at Hermione, hoping she wouldn't know who his book self was talking about, for he was sure who it was. At the same time, he kind of hoped that she would know and that she could answer the question that he has been wondering about for the last year. He had no idea what she was thinking about, but he didn't like the fact that she looked so sad hearing this... _she probably doesn't like me at all_, Ron thought with a sigh.

**Fred and George gave me a copy, and I've learned a lot. You'd be surprised; it's not all about wandwork, either."**

"Of course it's not," Bill rolled his eyes.

"I guess this explains why you were so caring in the last chapter..." Charlie chuckled. "Offering Hermione a dirty handkerchief and all."

Hermione looked at Charlie then. That almost made it sound like she might be the girl that Ron was talking about. Charlie gave her a warm smile and she blushed and looked away.

Ron on the other hand was glaring at his brother, clearly telling him to shut up.

"I knew that something drastic had to happen to make Ronniekins that sensitive," Fred added laughing.

**Sophia rolled her eyes. She should've known that half the things George had told her in the beginning of their relationship were from a book especially when he told her that her eyes looked like emeralds in the night. **

Fred spluttered in laughter along with the rest of his brothers while George's cheeks started to turn red.

**When they arrived in the kitchen they found a pile of presents waiting on the table. Bill and Monsieur Delacour were finishing their breakfasts, while Mrs. Weasley stood chatting to them over the frying pan.**

**"Arthur told me to wish you a happy seventeenth, Sophia," said Mrs. Weasley, beaming at her. "He had to leave early for work, but he'll be back for dinner. That's our present on top."**

**Sophia sat down, took the square parcel she had indicated, and unwrapped it. Inside was a watch very like the one Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had given Ron for his seventeenth; it was gold, with stars circling around the race instead of hands.**

"Thanks Molly," Sirius said, smiling warmly at the witch, but his eyes were sad too. James and Lily should have given her that watch. But they were gone now. Still, it was good to know that someone had really adopted her into their family.

"Think nothing of it Sirius, you know how I feel about Sophia," Molly's smile was sad, too.

"What are you talking about?" Sophia said looking between them a little confused.

"Honestly Potter, you really don't know anything do you," Draco rolled his eyes and Sophia glared at him. "It's tradition to get a watch when you come of age. It's supposed to come from your family but obviously you have to get you're for the Weasels..."

"If you think that's an insult, you're wrong," Sophia said looking at Draco coldly. He then looked at Molly, "Thank you."

"It's my pleasure," Molly said patting Sophia's check affectionately, clearly close to tears.

**"It's traditional to give a wizard a watch when he comes of age," said Mrs. Weasley, watching her anxiously from beside the cooker. "I'm afraid that one isn't new like Ron's, it was actually my brother Fabian's and he wasn't terribly careful**** with his possessions, it's a bit dented on the back, but-"**

Molly bit her lip at the mention of her brother; it was still hard for her to think of the brothers she had lost in the war. Ginny hugged her mum tightly, knowing how emotional she got whenever this was brought up. All the Weasley boys were looking thoughtful at this. Bill, Charlie, and Percy looking the most upset for they had clear memories of their uncles whereas the other had only vague memories of them.

**The rest of her speech was lost; Sophia had got up and hugged her. She tried to put a lot of unsaid things into the hug and perhaps she understood them, because Mrs. Weasley patted her cheek clumsily when she released her, then waved her wand in a slightly random way, causing half a pack of bacon to flop out of the frying pan onto the floor.**

**"Happy birthday, Soph!" said Hermione, hurrying into the kitchen and adding her own present to the top of the pile. "It's not much, but I hope you like it. What did you get her?" she added to Ron, who seemed not to hear her.**

**"Come on, then, open Hermione's!" said Ron.**

Everyone sniggered at Ron's obvious attempt to change the subject.

**She had bought her a new Sneakoscope.**

"That will probably be useful to us of the journey," Sophia said thoughtfully.

**The other packages contained a deluxe makeup kit from Bill and Fleur **

"Thank you," Sophia said smiling over at Fleur and Bill, both of whom beamed back at her.

**chocolates from the Delacours, an enormous box of the latest Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes merchandise from Fred and George, one of those handmade friendship bracelets from Ginny,**

Sophia smiled and hugged Ginny here

**and a necklace with a lily flower on it from Sirius and Remus that they had left with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.**

Sophia hugged them both tightly which they returned.

**Sophia, Ron, and Hermione did not linger at the table, as the arrival of Madame Delacour, Fleur, and Gabrielle made the kitchen uncomfortably crowded.**

"Sorry," All three mumbled to Fleur, who looked slightly affronted.

**"I'll pack these for you," Hermione said brightly, taking Sophia's presents out of her**** arms as the three of them headed back upstairs. "I'm nearly done; I'm just waiting for the rest of your underpants to come out of the wash, Ron-"**

Ron flushed there as everyone else laughed.

"You didn't have to say that," Ron muttered.

"Sorry," Hermione said looking amused, and Ron looked pleased that she didn't seem upset anymore.

**Ron's splutter was interrupted by the opening of a door on the first-floor landing.**

**"Phia, will you come in here a moment?"**

**It was George.**

Sirius and Remus glared at George, who shifted uncomfortably.

**Ron came to an abrupt halt obviously wanting to know what George needed Sophia for, but Hermione took him by the elbow and tugged him on up the stairs**.

Now they were glaring at Hermione, how could she let them be alone like that. Hermione, unlike George who was looking very uncomfortable at the moment, just rolled her eyes at them.

**Feeling nervous, Sophia followed George into his and Fred's old room.**

**George looked down at Sophia's face, took a deep breath, and said, "Happy seventeenth."**

**"Yeah...thanks."**

**He was looking at her steadily; she however, avoided looking at his gaze and preferred to look out the open window.**

The more Sirius read the more his grip tightened on the book.

**"Nice view," she said feebly, pointing toward with window.**

**He ignored this. She could not blame him.**

**She didn't notice he was walking until she felt his front pressed up against her back.**

**"Happy Birthday Phia," he whispered in a husky voice, and then he was kissing her. **

Sirius and Remus both groaned, making a face briefly before they started glaring again.

Hermione had a big smile on her face. Her best friend may not know it yet but Hermione knew Sophia had strong feelings for George.

Sophia was blushing. I mean sure George was sweet, kind, handsome, fun...wait when did she start thinking of George like that?

George was uncomfortable under the gazes of Sirius and Remus but aloud a small blush to creep onto his cheeks. He would never admit it but Sophia Potter did things to him that people wouldn't understand.

"Go George!" Fred cheered, only causing their reactions to intensify.

**The kiss was one of the most passionate the two had ever shared. He had one hand tightly gripping her waist and the other tugging at her hair. Sophia had never felt more loved than now as she pulled him closer to her. **

Sophia's face was dark red as she tried to become one with the couch and Sirius was reading the book through gritted teeth.

**Sophia didn't realize that George was walking them back until she landed with a thud on top of him on one of the beds. **

Remus' glared intensified on George as his brothers looked amused.

**The door banged open behind them and they pulled apart abruptly.**

**It was Sirius and Remus, who had apparently arrived when she had been rather occupied, and neither of them looked too happy at the position they were in.**

"Damn right, I'm not happy."

**"Oh," said Sirius pointedly. "Sorry."**

"Good timing," Tonks chuckled, and Sirius and Remus sighed in relief, they didn't need to hear any more of that. "But something tells me you weren't sorry at all."

**"I'll see you later," she said, and she promptly ran out of the bedroom not caring that she left George alone with an angry ex-convict and werewolf. It was every man for themselves!**

George paled and that finally broke the dam. All in one his brothers burst into laughter. Sophia gave him an apologetic smile but he was more focused on the wickedly grinning Sirius Black, who looked too smug for George's own good.

**It provided a distraction, watching Mrs. Weasley force Charlie into a chair, raise her wand threateningly, and announce that he was about to get a proper haircut.**

Charlie shivered at that as all the other Weasleys sniggered.

**As Sophia's birthday dinner would have stretched the Burrow's kitchen to breaking point even before the arrival of Charlie, Kingsley, Tonks, and Hagrid, several tables were placed end to end in the garden. Fred and George bewitched a number of purple lanterns all emblazoned with a large number 17, to hang in midair over the guests. Thanks to Mrs. Weasley's ministrations, George's wound was neat and clean, but Sophia was not yet used to the dark hole in the side of his head, despite the twins' many jokes about it. And despite his talk her two guardians, George looked a bit peaky but perfectly cheerful.**

Everyone grimaced at the reminder of that and Molly moaned although it did lighten the mood about George and his 'talk'.

**Hermione made purple and gold streamers erupt from the end of her wand and drape themselves artistically over the trees and bushes.**

"Why purple... why not red? We're all Gryffindors here." Ron questioned, ignoring Tonks' indignant huff.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "I don't see the point of decorating things based on our house colors besides purple is Sophia's favorite color."

**"Nice," said Ron, as with one final flourish of her wand, Hermione turned the leaves on the crabapple tree to gold. "You've really got an eye for that sort of thing."**

"Ah, the book really seems to be working for you," Bill laughed as the rested of the people in the room sniggered at the different responses that Ron had given.

"Hey, it looks like Ron might not be as much of a git in a few years, that's got to be something to look forward to ah, Hermione?" Ginny added smirking.

Hermione flushed, but was looking a little pleased, too.

**"Thank you, Ron!" said Hermione, looking both pleased and a little confused. Sophia turned away, smiling. She had a funny notion that she would find a chapter on compliments when she found time to sneak a look at Ron's copy of Twelve Fail-Safe Ways to Charm Witches;**

There was more sniggering at this as Ron glared at Sophia for that thought.

"Sorry mate," Sophia said laughing.

**she caught George's eye and grinned at him but it seemed like Sirius' and Remus' conversation stuck as he hurriedly striked up a conversation with Monsieur Delacour.**

"Oh honestly, you two." Sophia said laughing at Sirius and Remus' smug expressions.

**"Out of the way, out of the way!" sang Mrs. Weasley, coming through the gate with what appeared to be a giant, beach-ball-sized Snitch floating in front of her. Seconds later Sophia realized that it was her birthday cake, which Mrs. Weasley was suspending with her wand, rather than risk carrying it over the uneven ground. When the cake had finally landed in the middle of the table, Sophia said,**

**"That looks amazing, Mrs. Weasley."**

**"Oh, it's nothing, dear," she said fondly. **

Molly smiled at that. Sophia was always a very sweet girl.

**By seven o'clock all the guests had arrived, led into the house by Fred and George, who had waited for them at the end of the lane. Hagrid had honored the occasion by wearing his best, and horrible, hairy brown suit. Although Remus smiled as he gave Sophia a hug, Sophia thought he looked rather unhappy. It was all very odd; Sirius, beside him, looked simply radiant and glowing.**

Molly frowned her eyebrows together, that was an odd way of saying that; it made her think... oh!

Tonks on the other hand, was looking between Remus and Sirius and chuckled. "What, having a lover spat?"

"Shut up," Remus groaned but Sirius chuckled, clearly whatever if was he was happy about it so it couldn't be anything too serious.

**"Happy birthday, Soph," Sirius said, hugging her tightly before seeing Tonks and talking to her from where she was wrapped protectively in Kingsley's arms but was just as glowing as him.**

Molly's eyes shot up. This could mean more…

**"Seventeen, eh!" said Hagrid as he accepted a bucket-sized glass of wine from Fred. **

"FRED" Molly yelled.

"I'm just being a good host," Fred said with a large grin on his face.

"That doesn't mean getting your guests drunk," She said with a frown.

**"Six years ter the day since we met, Sophie, d'yeh remember it?"**

**"Vaguely," said Sophia, grinning up at him. "Didn't you smash down the front door, give Dudley a pig's tail, and tell me I was a witch?"**

Sophia chuckled at that, "Ah, good old times."

**"I forge' the details," Hagrid chortled. "All righ', Ron, Hermione?"**

**"We're fine," said Hermione. "How are you?"**

"Hmph, who said you could answer for me," Ron grumbled.

Hermione didn't respond to that; it was clear by his tone that he wasn't really upset about that.

**"Ar, not bad. Bin busy, we got some newborn unicorns. I'll show yeh when yeh get back-" Sophia avoided Ron's and Hermione's gazes as Hagrid rummaged in his pocket. "Here. Sophie - couldn't think what ter get teh, but then I remembered this." He pulled out a small, slightly furry drawstring pouch with a long string, evidently intended to be worn around the neck. "Mokeskin. Hide anythin' in there an' no one but the owner can get it out. They're rare, them."**

"And very valuable!" Draco said, a little surprised. "I wonder how the oaf got a hold of something like that."

"Don't call Hagrid that!" Sophia said hotly as most of the people in the room glared at him. Draco shrugged his shoulders, but his cheeks where pink and he was obviously afraid.

**"Hagrid, thanks!"**

**"'S'nothin'," said Hagrid with a wave of a dustbin-lid-sized hand. "An' there's Charlie! Always liked him - hey! Charlie!" '**

Charlie chuckled at that; he always liked Hagrid, too.

**Charlie approached, running his hand slightly ruefully over his new, brutally short haircut.**

"NO!" Charlie said running his hands through his long hair as though it would disappear before his eyes.

Molly grinned, _She finally cut his hair!_

**He was shorter than Ron, thickset, with a number of burns and scratches up his muscley arms. Sophia had to admit that even though she loved George, Charlie was pretty damn hot in her eyes. **

Sophia flushed as Charlie chuckled. He was very flattered that she thought he was attractive.

George felt his cheeks heating up with anger but was slightly calmed as it said that she loved him.

**"Hi, Hagrid, how's it going?"**

**"Bin meanin' ter write fer ages. How's Norbert doin'?"**

**"Norbert?" Charlie laughed. "The Norwegian Ridgeback? We call her Norberta now."**

**"Wha - Norbert's a girl?"**

**"Oh yeah," said Charlie.**

**"How can you tell?" asked Hermione.**

**"They're a lot more vicious," said Charlie.**

"Then yes, Norbert is definitely a girl," Ron grimaced, rubbing his hand where he had been bitten subconsciously.

**He looked over his shoulder and dropped his voice. "Wish Dad would hurry up and get here. Mum's getting edgy."**

**They all looked over at Mrs. Weasley. She was trying to talk to Madame Delacour while glancing repeatedly at the gate.**

**"I think we'd better start without Arthur," she called to the garden at large after a moment or two. "He must have been held up at - oh!"**

**They all saw it at the same time: a streak of light that came flying across the yard and onto the table, where it resolved itself into a bright silver weasel, which stood on its hind legs and spoke with Mr. Weasley's voice.**

"What? I didn't know Patronus can speak!" Sophia said.

"Ah, that is because for the most part they can't," Dumbledore explained. "However, I have come up with a way for them to do that. This is how the Order sends messages to each other if there is need for it."

"That's pretty cool sir," Sophia smiled at him, feeling that it was odd that she wasn't feeling the resentment towards her headmaster that she has been feeling most of this year.

**"Minister of Magic coming with me."**

"Argh, that's sure to ruin the party," Ron groaned.

Sophia shrugged, "It still will be better than any birthday I had with the Dursleys."

**The Patronus dissolved into thin air, leaving Fleur's family peering in astonishment at the place where it had vanished.**

**"We shouldn't be here," said Remus at once. "Sophia- I'm sorry - I'll explain some other time-"**

Remus grimace that knowing exactly why he was leaving.

"Those bloody prejudice gits!" Sirius grumbled bitterly, clearly knowing what was meant, too.

**He seized Sirius' wrist and pulled him away;**

Now Remus looked sadly at Sirius. Yes, they had married since they got out of Hogwarts but that didn't mean he felt any less bad at the inconvenience it caused his mate.

Sirius rolled his eyes at him; he didn't care about any of that as long as he was with Remus, that's all that mattered.

**they reached the fence, climbed over it, and vanished from sight. Mrs. Weasley looked bewildered.**

**"The Minister - but why-? I don't understand-"**

**But there was no time to discuss the matter; a second later, Mr. Weasley had appeared out of thin air at the gate, accompanied by Rufus Scrimgeour, instantly recognizable by his mane of grizzled hair.**

**The two newcomers marched across the yard toward the garden and the lantern-lit table, where everybody sat in silence, watching them draw closer. As Scrimgeour came within range of the lantern light. Sophia saw that he looked much older than the last time that had met, scraggy and grim.**

"Being the Minister tends to age a person rather quickly," Dumbledore said, having been close to several of the previous Ministers. "Even more so for the ones that hold the office during war time like this."

**"Sorry to intrude," said Scrimgeour, as he limped to a halt before the table. "Especially as I can see that I am gate-crashing a party."**

**His eyes lingered for a moment on the giant Snitch cake.**

**"Many happy returns."**

**"Thanks," said Sophia.**

**"I require a private word with you," Scrimgeour went on. "Also with Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger."**

"All of us!" Ron said surprised.

"You don't think he knows what we're planning do you," Sophia said nervously, "and he would try to stop us."

"No," Hermione said thoughtfully.

"What is it?" Sophia asked her.

"I was just thinking of the chapter title," Hermione said.

"Dumbledore's Will," Remus nodded his head, "I was thinking about that, too."

"I still don't see why he would want to see all of us," Ron said.

**"Us?" said Ron, sounding surprised. "Why us?"**

**"I shall tell you that when we are somewhere more private," said Scrimgeour. "Is there such a place?' he demanded of Mr. Weasley.**

**"Yes, of course," said Mr. Weasley, who looked nervous. "The, er, sitting room, why don't you use that?"**

**"You can lead the way," Scrimgeour said to Ron. "There will be no need for you to accompany us, Arthur."**

**Sophia saw Mr. Weasley exchange a worried look with Mrs. Weasley as she, Ron, and Hermione stood up. As they led the way back to the house in silence, Sophia knew that the other two were thinking the same as she was; Scrimgeour must, somehow, had learned that the three of them were planning to drop out of Hogwarts.**

**Scrimgeour did not speak as they all passed through the messed kitchen and into the Burrow's sitting room. Although the garden had been full of soft golden evening light, it was already dark in here; Sophia flicked her wand at the oil lamps as she entered and they illuminated the shabby but cozy room. Scrimgeour sat himself in the sagging armchair that Mr. Weasley normally occupied, leaving Sophia, Ron, and Hermione to squeeze side by side onto the sofa.**

"Hermione, you should have just sat on Ron's lap, that probably would have been a better seat," Fred chuckled and Hermione and Ron both blushed.

**Once they had done so, Scrimgeour spoke.**

**"I have some questions for the three of you, and I think it will be best if we do it individually. If you two" - he pointed at Sophia and Hermione - "can wait upstairs, I will start with Ronald."**

**"We're not going anywhere," said Sophia, while Hermione nodded vigorously. "You can speak to us together, or not at all."**

"Sophia, you really shouldn't be speaking to the Minister like that," Molly reprimanded.

"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Sophia said.

**Scrimgeour gave Sophia a cold, appraising look. Sophia had the impression that the Minister was wondering whether it was worthwhile opening hostilities this early.**

**"Very well then, together," he said, shrugging. He cleared his throat. "I am here, as I'm sure you know, because of Albus Dumbledore's will."**

**Sophia, Ron, and Hermione looked at one another.**

**"A surprise, apparently! You were not aware then that Dumbledore had left you anything?"**

"What did you expect, Dumbledore to talk to them about putting them in his will," Sirius rolled his eyes. "That sounds like a dead, depressing conversation to me."

**"A-all of us?" said Ron, "Me and Hermione too?"**

**"Yes, all of -"**

**But Sophia interrupted.**

**"Dumbledore died over a month ago. Why has it taken this long to give us what he left us?"**

Remus and McGonagall narrowed their eyes, but Dumbledore didn't look phased at all, he would expect nothing less from the Ministry in its present state.

**"Isn't it obvious?" said Hermione, before Scrimgeour could answer. "They wanted to examine whatever he's left us. You had no right to do that!" she said, and h er voice trembled slightly.**

**"I had every right," said Scrimgeour dismissively. "The Decree for Justifiable Confiscation gives the Ministry the power the confiscate the contents of a will-"**

"That's ridiculous," Remus spat. "That decree couldn't possible..."

At this point Sirius started reading loudly, partly because he saw that Hermione was likely to say the same thing and partly because he knew it would annoy the werewolf.

**"That law was created to stop wizards passing on Dark artifacts," said Hermione, "and the Ministry is supposed to have powerful evidence that the deceased's possessions are illegal before seizing them! Are you telling me that you thought Dumbledore was trying to pass us something cursed?"**

"Of course that's what's he's saying, you can never trust Dumbledore," Fred said.

"He's a conniving old man after all," George added.

"Fred! George!" Molly screamed, glaring at the twins before giving Dumbledore an apologetic look. Dumbledore, however, was chuckling at what the twins had just said.

**"Are you planning to follow a career in Magical Law, Miss Granger?" asked**** Scrimgeour.**

**"No, I'm not," retorted Hermione.**

Hermione blinked at that.

"What's wrong?" Ron looked at her questioningly.

"It's just... I have been thinking about that," Hermione frowned; she was wondering if she had decided to do something else.

"You're probably just lying to him," Ron shrugged.

"You might be right," Hermione said nodding her head.

**"I'm hoping to do some good in the world!"**

Ron rolled his eyes, "let me guess, you want to do something with spew."

"It's S.P.E.W!" Hermione groaned at him. "And so what if I do?"

"Hermione, working in Magical Law can help you do something good in the world," Tonks said. "My mum works in that department and she's done plenty of things to help our community."

Hermione nodded her head; she still had time to think about all this after all.

**Ron laughed. Scrimgeour's eyes flickered toward him and away again as Sophia spoke.**

**"So why have you decided to let us have our things now? Can't think of a pretext to keep them?"**

**"No, it'll be because thirty-one days are up," said Hermione at once. "They can't keep the objects longer than that unless they can prove they're dangerous. Right?"**

"You certainly know a lot about this subject," Sirius whistled.

"She's Hermione, she knows everything," Ron informed him and smirked when Hermione glared at him.

**"Would you say you were close to Dumbledore, Ronald?" asked Scrimgeour, ignoring Hermione. Ron looked startled.**

**"Me? Not - not really... It was always Sophia who..."**

Hermione groaned.

"What?" Ron said.

"I think that's what he wanted to here," Hermione said, shaking her head. "It really doesn't make sense that Dumbledore would leave us anything," she then blushed when she looked at the Dumbledore in the room. "Er... why did you leave us things, sir?"

"I can't be certain until I know what they are, but I'm sure I have my reasons for leaving things for you," Dumbledore assured.

"Do you think it will help Sophia?" Hermione said.

"Yes," Dumbledore smiled, but said no more, and Hermione sensed that this conversation was over.

**Ron looked around at Sophia and Hermione, to see Hermione giving him a stop-talking-now! sort of look,**

Everyone snorted at that.

**but the damage was done; Scrimgeour looked as though he had heard exactly what he had expected, and wanted, to hear. He swooped like a bird of prey upon Ron's answer.**

**"If you were not very close to Dumbledore, how do you account for the fact that he remembered you in his will? He made exceptionally few personal bequests. The vast majority of his possessions - his private library, his magical instruments, and other personal effects - were left to Hogwarts. Why do you think you were singled out?"**

**"I...dunno," said Ron. "I...when I say we weren't close...I mean, I think he liked me..."**

**"You're being modest, Ron," said Hermione. "Dumbledore was very fond of you."**

"Though, we have not had a chance to talk very much, I would have to agree with that," Dumbledore said. "I admire that loyalty and support you have shown your friends in face of the extreme danger."

"Thanks," Ron mumbled as his ears turned red and he looked down, not being able to look at his headmaster in the eyes.

**This was stretching the truth to breaking point; as far as Sophia knew, Ron and Dumbledore had never been alone together, and direct contact between them had been negligible. However, Scrimgeour did not seem to be listening. He put his hand inside his cloak and drew out a drawstring pouch much larger than the one Hagrid had given Sophia. From it, he removed a scroll of parchment which he unrolled and read aloud.**

**"'The Last Will and Testament of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore'... Yes, here we are... 'To Ronald Billius Weasley, I leave my Deluminator, in the hope that he will remember me when he uses it.'"**

Dumbledore mouth thinned, this was exactly what he thought he would bequeath to Ron, though he hoped the boy would never have used it.

**Scrimgeour took from the bag an object that Sophia had seen before: It looked something like a silver cigarette lighter, but it had, he knew, the power to suck all light from a place, and restore it, with a simple click. Scrimgeour leaned forward and passed the Deluminator to Ron, who took it and turned it over in the fingers looking stunned.**

"Cool, I wish I had it now," Ron smiled and then his eyes widen when he looked at Dumbledore, "Er... sorry I didn't mean..."

"It's all right Mr. Weasley, I understand what you meant," Dumbledore chuckled.

**"That is a valuable object," said Scrimgeour, watching Ron. "It may even be unique. Certainly it is of Dumbledore's own design. Why would he have left you and item so rare?"**

**Ron shook his head, looking bewildered.**

Everyone looked at Dumbledore, who just looked peacefully at the book.

"You're not going to answer that are you?" Sophia frowned.

"No, I believe it would be better to find out everything in the right time and place. It would make the story more entertaining that way," Dumbledore smiled, though he was also thinking that it would only cause trouble if he explained what this was.

**"Dumbledore must have taught thousands of students," Scrimgeour persevered. "Yet the only ones he remembered in his will are you three.**

"Does that mean you don't even leave me anything?" McGonagall looked at him sharply.

"I do not believe that Scrimgeour would think of as being one of my students, seeing as we have been colleagues for so long," Dumbledore said to her.

"That better be true," McGonagall informed, though she didn't particularly want anything from him, it would be nice to have something to really remember him by.

**Why is that? To what use did he think you would put to the Deluminator, Mr. Weasley?"**

**"Put out lights, I s'pose," mumbled Ron. "What else could I do with it?"**

Snape looked thoughtfully at Dumbledore, knowing that it must do something else, but having no idea what it could be.

**Evidently Scrimgeour had no suggestions. After squinting at Ron for a moment or two, he turned back to Dumbledore's will.**

**"'To Miss Hermione Jean Granger, I leave my copy of **_**The Tales of Beedle the Bard**_**, in the hope that she will find it entertaining and instructive.'"**

"What?" Sirius said looking at Dumbledore oddly, as were most of the other people in the room. In fact the only ones that weren't looking at him oddly where Hermione and Sophia, for neither of them knew what _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ was.

Again, Dumbledore just looked at the book, waiting for Sirius to read. However, he was struggling to keep his calm as he thought about why he would be giving Hermione this book. He obviously knew that the Deathly Hallows would have to play a role in this, seeing as it was the title of the book; however, he wasn't expecting to be the one to bring it up.

Why will Sophia need to know about the Deathly Hallows? He realized quickly that Voldemort was looking for the Elder Wand, his wand, and he wondered again how this was all going to work out.

**Scrimgeour now pulled out of the bag a small book that looked as ancient as the copy of Secrets of the Darkest Art upstairs. Its binding was stained and peeling in places. Hermione took it from Scrimgeour without a word. She held the book in her lap and gazed at it. Sophia saw that the title was in runes; she had never learned to read them. As she looked, a tear splashed onto the embossed symbols.**

**"Why do you think Dumbledore left you that book, Miss Granger?" asked Scrimgeour.**

**"He... he knew I liked books," said Hermione in a thick voice, mopping her eyes with her sleeve.**

All the boys in the room were sniggering at Hermione statement.

**"But why that particular book?"**

**"I don't know. He must have thought I'd enjoy it."**

"Indeed I would," Dumbledore agreed, trying to making himself sound cheerful as he mind went over more troubling thoughts. "I believe that you've never had the chance to read that tales that wizard children grow up with."

"No," Hermione said, looking intrigued, "is that what this is?"

"Of course it is," Ron looked at her incredulously, "you mean you've never heard of Beedle the Brad!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at that questioned, but didn't say any more.

**"Did you ever discuss codes, or any means of passing secret messages, with Dumbledore?"**

**"No, I didn't," said Hermione, still wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "And if the Ministry hasn't found any hidden codes in this book in thirty-one days, I doubt that I will."**

"I doubt that's true," Ron snorted. "You'll find whatever it is he's trying to tell you in no time."

**She suppressed a sob. They were wedged together so tightly that Ron had difficulty extracting his arm to put it around Hermione's shoulders.**

More sniggering at that and Ron was starting to really get annoyed with his brothers, though that didn't stop his ears from turning bright red.

**Scrimgeour turned back to the will.**

**"'To Sophia Lillian Dorea Potter,'" he read, **

"Is that really your full name?" Fred said with a wonder.

"Yes, why does it matter?" Sophia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well you are dating my twin in the future. I would like to know some things about you." Fred quipped back and was satisfied as she blushed.

**and Sophia's insides contracted with a sudden excitement, "'I leave the Snitch she caught in her first Quidditch match at Hogwarts, as a reminder of the rewards of perseverance and skill.'"**

Sophia cocked her head to the side and looked oddly at the book.

George resisted the urge to go over there and hug her. She looked adorable when she did that.

"You know I was expecting Soph to get something a little more flashy than that," Sirius said looking disappointed.

**As Scrimgeour pulled out the tiny, walnut-sized golden ball, its silver wings fluttered rather feebly, and Sophia could not help feeling a definite sense of anticlimax.**

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm feeling," Sirius chuckled.

Snape shook his head, _like mutt, like goddaughter_

**"Why did Dumbledore leave you this Snitch?" asked Scrimgeour.**

**"No idea," Sophia said. "For the reasons you just read out, I suppose... to remind me what you can get if you... persevere and whatever it was."**

**"You think this a mere symbolic keepsake, then?"**

**"I suppose so," said Sophia. "What else could it be?"**

**"I'm asking the questions," said Scrimgeour,**

"That makes him sound even more childish than Black," Snape sneered.

**shifting his chair a little closer to the sofa. Dusk was really falling outside now; the marquee beyond the windows towered ghostly white over the hedge.**

**"I notice that your birthday cake is in the shape of a Snitch," Scrimgeour said to Sophia. "Why is that?"**

**Hermione laughed derisively.**

**"Oh, it can't be a reference to the fact Sophia's a great Seeker, that's way too obvious," she said. "There must be a secret message from Dumbledore hidden in the icing!"**

Everyone chuckled at that.

"Nice one Mione," Ron laughed and Hermione smiled.

**"I don't think there's anything hidden in the icing," said Scrimgeour, "but a Snitch would be a very good hiding place for a small object. You know why, I'm sure?"**

**Sophia shrugged, Hermione, however, answered: Sophia thought that answering questions correctly was such a deeply ingrained habit she could not suppress the urge.**

"Argh," Hermione groaned looking at Sophia.

"She has a point," Ron sniggered.

**"Because Snitches have flesh memories," she said.**

"What?" several people said together.

"Oh come on

**"What?" said Sophia and Ron together; both considered Hermione's Quidditch knowledge negligible.**

Hermione was now glaring at the two.

"Sorry, Mione, we should have realized that even that wouldn't stop you from knowing something," Ron chuckled and Hermione's glare just intensified.

**"Correct," said Scrimgeour. "A Snitch is not touched by bare skin before it is released, not even by the maker, who wears gloves. It carries an enchantment by which it can identify the first human to lay hands upon it, in case of a disputed capture. This Snitch" - he held up the tiny golden ball - "will remember your touch, Potter. It occurs to me that Dumbledore, who had prodigious magical skill,**** whatever his other faults,**

"He sounds like the Death Eaters when he says that," Sirius pointed out, frowning.

"I'm afraid that it's not only Death Eaters that don't like me," Dumbledore said in an almost cheerful voice. "Many people in the Ministry do not like the way I do things either."

Percy grimace at that; though Dumbledore wasn't looking at him he felt almost as if he could almost feel a weight being put on his shoulders.

**might have enchanted this Snitch so that it will open only for you."**

**Sophia's heart was beating rather fast. She was sure that Scrimgeour was right. How could she avoid taking the Snitch with her bare hand in front of the Minister?**

"You need not have to worry about that Sophia." Dumbledore smiled.

"Why not sir?" Sophia said. "You don't think you left me something."

"That's not quite what I meant," Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

"He's referring to the fact that you were a wide mouth frog in your first match," Draco sneered. "Obviously, touching it with your hands won't affect the snitch."

Several people chuckled at that but more looked at Sophia curiously.

"What is he talking about Sophia?" Sirius questioned.

"Er... it's a long story, can I tell you later?" Sophia said and Sirius nodded his head.

**"You don't say anything," said Scrimgeour. "Perhaps you already know what the Snitch contains?"**

**"No," said Sophia, still wondering how she could appear to touch the Snitch without really doing so. If only she knew Legilimency, really knew it, and could read Hermione's mind; she could practically hear her brain whizzing beside her.**

**"Take it," said Scrimgeour quietly.**

**Sophia met the Minister's yellow eyes and knew she had no option but to obey. She held out her hand, and Scrimgeour leaned forward again and place the Snitch, slowly and deliberately, into Sophia's open palm.**

**Nothing happened. As Sophia's fingers closed around the Snitch, its tired wings fluttered and were still. Scrimgeour, Ron, and Hermione continued to gaze avidly at the now partially concealed ball, as if still hoping it might transform in some**** way.**

**"That was dramatic," said Sophia coolly. Both Ron and Hermione laughed.**

As did several other people in the room

**"That's all, then, is it?" asked Hermione, making to raise herself off the sofa.**

**"Not quite," said Scrimgeour, who looked bad tempered now. "Dumbledore left you a two other bequest, Potter."**

**"What is it?" asked Sophia, excitement rekindling.**

Much like her godfather who was practically bouncing with joy.

**"One: To Sophia Lillian Dorea Potter,**

Fred gave a small chuckle at Sophia's full name again.

**I leave in her care my loyal companion, Fawkes in the hope she finds his company comforting and joyful."**

Sophia and several others jaws dropped while Dumbledore chuckled merrily. He knew that Fawkes had a special connection with Sophia.

**Nothing happened.**

"Huh," Many people in the room were confused by this also.

**Sophia raised her eyebrows. "Now what?"**

**"You call him." Hermione replied. "Phoenixes are completely loyal, and since Dumbledore left Fawkes to you, Fawkes will answer your call."**

**"Oh-kay." Sophia said uncertainly. "How do I call him?"**

**"Think about him, and say his name clearly." Hermione instructed. Sophia felt a bit ridiculous, but she did as she was told, thinking about the beautiful and graceful, yet deadly bird.**

**"Fawkes." she said. Nothing happened, but then a flash of flames burst into existence in front of Sophia, and perched on the coffee table, sat Fawkes. His gold and scarlet plumage perfect and glowing, his black eyes shining with a fire that sparked from within. He was incredible.**

**Sophia reached out a hand to pat the bird, but Fawkes blinked at her once before closing the distance. A bolt of electricity ran up her arm on contact and she was frozen, her hand on the bird's head, her eyes wide with shock. A second later, she retracted her hand and saw that on her middle finger wound a barely noticeably golden tattoo, swirling in perfect curls from knuckle to nail. Fawkes hopped from the table, to her knee, the came to rest on her shoulder where he rubbed his head against her cheek and neck lovingly.**

"Amazing," Sirius said breathlessly looking at his goddaughter amazed.

**"'Lo, Fawkes." she chuckled weakly.**

**"Why would Dumbledore leave you a phoenix?" Scrimgeour asked, his eyes on the magnificent creature on Sophia's shoulder.**

**"Probably because he knew I'd take care of him." Lexi replied, still smiling as the bird keened at her.**

**"Phoenixes are usually wild and ferocious; what makes you think that this bird won't attack you?" Scrimgeour asked, but the man seemed to forget that Fawkes was as intelligent as a human being, perhaps even more so. So, the minister got a shock when the bird made eye contact and his feathers stood on end as he let out a hiss-like snarl. Scrimgeour turned back to the will.**

"Good Bird," Both Fred and George chuckled.

**Scrimgeour did not bother to read from the will this time.**

**"His third request was that you be left the sword of Godric Gryffindor," he said.**

"Cool," several people said, Sirius the loudest among them.

"But why would Sophia need that?" Arthur questioned.

"I don't know," Remus said. "Of course the sword would always be useful but I can't see the particular..."

"It's goblin made!" Bill interrupted Remus, he was unusually excited about something and everyone looked at him oddly, but he remembered clearly what Sophia had just told them less than an hour ago. "Sophia killed the basilisks with the sword!"

"Of course!" Remus said, rather excited himself now. "Goblin made weapons absorb whatever it comes in contact with..."

"And now the sword has basilisk's venom in it," Snape said, nodding his head. "Which is one of the few things that could destroy a Horcrux."

**Hermione and Ron both stiffened. Sophia looked around for a sign of the ruby-encrusted hilt, but Scrimgeour did not pull the sword from the leather pouch, which in any case looked much too small to contain it.**

**"So where is it?" Sophia asked suspiciously.**

**"Unfortunately," said Scrimgeour, "that sword was not Dumbledore's to give away. The sword of Godric Gryffindor is an important historical artifact, and as such, belongs-"**

"You idiot!" Sirius shouted, "Sophia needs that!"

"Why the hell are you interfering so damn much?" Remus shouted, uncharacteristically dark. "Don't you get how important this? Don't you realize that if Dumbledore had bequeathed this to Sophia that it must be important?"

"Obviously not," Bill said, grimacing.

"He always resented it when he wasn't in charge of something," Tonks muttered. "And was never good about hiding his resentment."

"I did not expect the Ministry to hand the sword over to Sophia," Dumbledore said calmly to the room at large and the outrage that everyone was feeling faded and they looked at him curiously.

"So this isn't a bad thing?" Arthur asked.

"No," Dumbledore said. "The reason I must have bequeathed the sword to Sophia, is so he would realize that he needs it."

**"It belongs to Sophia!" said Hermione hotly. "It chose her, she was the one who found it, it came to her out of the Sorting Hat-"**

**"According to reliable historical sources, the sword may present itself to any worthy Gryffindor," said Scrimgeour. "That does not make it the exclusive property of Ms. Potter, whatever Dumbledore may have decided." Scrimgeour scratched his badly shaven cheek, scrutinizing Sophia. "Why do you think-?"**

**"-Dumbledore wanted to give me the sword?" said Sophia, struggling to keep her temper. "Maybe he thought it would look nice on my wall."**

**"This is not a joke, Potter!" growled Scrimgeour. "Was it because Dumbledore believed that only the sword of Godric Gryffindor could defeat the Heir of Slytherin? Did he wish to give you that sword, Potter, because he believed, as do many, that you are the one destined to destroy He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"**

**"Interesting theory," said Sophia. "Has anyone ever tried sticking a sword in Voldemort? Maybe the Ministry should put some people onto that, instead of wasting their time stripping down Deluminators or covering up breakouts from Azkaban. So this is what you've been doing, Minister, shut up in your office, trying to break open a Snitch? People are dying – I was nearly one of them – Voldemort chased me across three countries, he killed Mad-Eye Moody, but there's no word about any of that from the Ministry, has there? And you still expect us to cooperate with you!"**

"Sophia! You really shouldn't say that to the Minister," Molly groaned, trying hard to repress a grin.

"Sorry," Sophia shrugged. "But he was practically asking for me to yell at him."

**"You go too far!" shouted Scrimgeour, standing up: Sophia jumped to her feet too. Scrimgeour limped toward Sophia and jabbed her hard in the chest with the point of his wand; It singed a hole in Sophia's T-shirt like a lit cigarette.**

"HEY!" Sirius shouted.

"Don't you dare touch her like that!" Molly screamed.

**"Oi!" said Ron, jumping up and raising his own wand, but Sophia said,**

**"No! D'you want to give him an excuse to arrest us?"**

**"Remembered you're not at school, have you?" said Scrimgeour breathing hard into Sophia's face. "Remembered that I am not Dumbledore, who forgave your insolence and insubordination? You may wear that scar like a crown, Potter, but it is not up to a seventeen-year-old girl to tell me how to do my job! It's time you learned some respect!"**

Draco snorted at this and everyone glared at him.

**"It's time you earned it." said Sophia.**

Snape looked at Sophia coldly there, clearly Potter was being arrogant here, the Minister of Magic didn't have to earn a respect of a seventeen year old. Then why did he feel so oddly about that, like he didn't believe his own thoughts. It must be because Scrimgeour really wasn't acting in a way that should be respected.

**The floor trembled; there was a sound of running footsteps, then the door to the sitting room burst open and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley ran in.**

**"We - we thought we heard -" began Mr. Weasley, looking thoroughly alarmed at the sight of Sophia and the Minister virtually nose to nose.**

**"—raised voices," panted Mrs. Weasley.**

**Scrimgeour took a couple of steps back from Sophia, glancing at the hole he had made in Sophia T-shirt. He seemed to regret his loss of temper.**

**"It – it was nothing," he growled. "I … regret your attitude," he said, looking Sophia full in the face once more. "You seem to think that the Ministry does not desire what you – what Dumbledore – desired. We ought to work together."**

"Somehow I don't see that one happening," Sophia mumbled, not after everything the Ministry had put her through this year already.

**"I don't like your methods, Minister," said Sophia. "Remember?"**

**For the second time, she raised her right fist and displayed to Scrimgeour the scar ****that still showed white on the back of it, spelling **_**I must not tell lies.**_

Sirius glared at the book as he read this.

**Scrimgeour's expression hardened. He turned away without another word and limped from the room. Mrs. Weasley hurried after him; Sophia heard her stop at the back door. After a minute or so she called, "He's gone!"**

**"What did he want?" Mr. Weasley asked, looking around at Sophia, Ron, and Hermione as Mrs. Weasley came hurrying back to them.**

**"To give us what Dumbledore left us," said Sophia. "They've only just released the content of his will."**

**Outside in the garden, over the dinner tables, the three objects Scrimgeour had given them were passed from hand to hand. Everyone exclaimed over the Deluminator and ****_The Tales of Beedle the Bard _****and lamented the fact that Scrimgeour had refused to pass on the sword, but none of them could offer any suggestion as to why Dumbledore would have left Sophia an old Snitch but they adored Fawkes who sat on a perch as he watched over Sophia closely. As Mr. Weasley examined the Deluminator for the third of fourth time, Mrs. Weasley said tentatively, "Sophia, dear, everyone's awfully hungry we didn't like to start without you… Shall I serve dinner now?"**

**They all ate rather hurriedly and then after a hasty chorus of "Happy Birthday" and much gulping of cake, the party broke up. Hagrid, who was invited to the wedding the following day, but was far too bulky to sleep in the overstretched Burrow, left to set up a tent for himself in a neighboring field.**

**"Meet us upstairs," Sophia whispered to Hermione, while they helped Mrs. Weasley restore the garden to its normal state. "After everyone's gone to bed."**

**"Huh?" Ron said thoughtfully. "Is that all we had to do to be able to talk to each other? We didn't really have to think of a way to be alone together."**

**Up in the attic room, Ron examined his Deluminator, and Sophia filled Hagrid's mokeskin purse, not with gold, but with those items she most prized, apparently worthless though some of them were the Marauder's Map, the shard of Sirius's enchanted mirror, and R.A.B.'s locket.**

"All of them having a connection to me," Sirius smugly, he was sure R.A.B was his brother.

He did not see Remus roll his eyes behind him.

**She pulled the string tight and slipped the purse around her neck, then sat holding the old Snitch and watching its wings flutter feebly. At last, Hermione tapped on the door and tiptoed inside.**

Molly grimaced at this; she didn't like that Hermione was sneaking into the boys room, but at least Sophia was there, too, so it should be okay.

"If you're worried about this, imagine how bad it will be when the three of them are off on their own mum," Fred said chuckling and Molly paled at that.

**"Muffiato," she whispered, waving her wand in the direction of the stairs.**

Snape mouth opened wide when he heard that. How the hell did she know that spell? Unlike most of the other spells that he created, this one didn't make it to circulation. As far as he knew, he was the only one that knew how to use it.

"What kind of spell is that?" Sophia questioned.

"I have no idea," Hermione said narrowing her eyes. "I've never heard about it before."

**"Thought you didn't approve of that spell?" said Ron.**

"Why would you disapprove of a spell?" Sophia asked.

"I really don't know," Hermione said, more confused than ever.

**"Times change," said Hermione. "Now, show us that Deluminator."**

**Ron obliged at once. Holding it up in front of him, he clicked it. The solitary lamp they had lit went out at once.**

**"The thing is," whispered Hermione through the dark, "we could have achieved that with Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder."**

"I wonder what that is?" Hermione questioned.

"I don't know, but it sounds pretty cool," Fred said. "We should probably look into this for our s..." he stopped himself short as he noticed his mum's glare just in time. "Our next prank."

"If I hear about something like this Fredrick Weasley, you will regret it!" Molly said coldly.

**There was a small **_**click**_**, and the ball of light from the lamp flew back to the ceiling and illuminated them all once more.**

**"Still, it's cool," said Ron, a little defensively. "And from what they said, Dumbledore invented it himself!"**

**"I know but, surely he wouldn't have singled you out in his will just to help us turn out the lights!"**

**"D'you think he knew the Ministry would confiscate his will and examine everything he'd left us?" asked Sophia.**

**"Definitely," said Hermione. "He couldn't tell us in the will why he was leaving us these things, but that still doesn't explain…"**

**"… why he couldn't have given us a hint when he was alive?" asked Ron.**

"Er... perhaps it's because he didn't know he was going to die," George suggested.

"He might have thought he had more time," Remus added and looked at Dumbledore; it was extremely odd discussing his death like this when he was sitting here before him like this.

**"Well, exactly," said Hermione, now flicking through **_**The Tales of Beedle the Bard**_**. "If these things are important enough to pass on right under the nose of the Ministry, you'd think he'd have left us know why… unless he thought it was obvious?"**

"No, not obvious," Dumbledore chuckled; he must have wanted them to figure it out in time.

**"Thought wrong, then, didn't he?" said Ron. "I always said he was mental.**

"Sorry sir," Ron blushed.

"It's all right," Dumbledore shrugged. "I've heard it before."

**Brilliant and everything, but cracked. Leaving Sophia an old Snitch, I mean granted he did leave her the bird – but what the hell was that about?"**

**"I've no idea," said Hermione. "When Scrimgeour made you take it, Sophia, I was so sure that something was going to happen!"**

**"Yeah, well," said Sophia, her pulse quickened as she raised the Snitch in her fingers. "I wasn't going to try too hard in front of Scrimgeour was I?"**

**"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.**

"And you're supposed to be the smart one," Draco scoffed.

**"The Snitch I caught in my first ever Quidditch match?" said Sophia. "Don't you remember?"**

**Hermione looked simply bemused. Ron, however, gasped, pointing frantically from Sophia to the Snitch and back again until he found his voice.**

**"That was the one you nearly swallowed!"**

"Why did you nearly swallow a snitch?" Sirius questioned again.

"I'll tell you after this chapter," Sophia said.

"We, should probably take a break for dinner after this chapter anyways, do you realize how late it is?" Molly said looking at her watch.

"That sounds good to me," Sirius smiled and everyone seemed to be in agreement with that.

"But the next chapter should be the wedding!" Fleur grumbled, "I wanted to hear about that."

"The book will still be here after dinner," Tonks informed her.

**"Exactly," said Sophia, and with her heart beating fast, she pressed her mouth to the Snitch.**

**It did not open. Frustration and bitter disappointment welled up inside her: She lowered the golden sphere, but then Hermione cried out.**

**"Writing! There's writing on it, quick, look!" She nearly dropped the Snitch in surprise and excitement. Hermione was quite right. Engraved upon the smooth golden surface, where seconds before there had been nothing, were five words written in the thin, slanted handwriting that Sophia recognized as Dumbledore's**

_**I open at the close. **_

"What the hell does that mean?" Sirius questioned. He was impatient and didn't like it when Dumbledore grimaced and shook his head. Dumbledore could only guess what was in there, and yet he was sure he was right. He longed to know how he got a hold of it, the one thing he was looking since he was a boy. Something that was so tempting to have that he wished to know more details about where he had found it, so he would be able to use it, just once.

But he was giving it to Sophia; the girl would find this object just as tempting as he himself had, and yet somehow he knew that Sophia would be able to use it better than he would use it. This was especially true with what his message was; _I open at the close_... Clearly, Sophia could use this then.

**She had barely read them when the words vanished again.**

**"I open at the close…." What's that supposed to mean?"**

**Hermione and Ron shook their heads, looking blank.**

**"I open at the close… at the close… I open at the close…"**

**But no matter how often they repeated the words, with many different inflections, they were unable to wring any more meaning from them.**

**"And the sword," said Ron finally, when they had at last abandoned their attempts to divine meaning in the Snitch's inscription.**

**"Why did he want Sophia to have the sword?"**

**"And why couldn't he just have told me?" Sophia said quietly. "I was **_**there**_**, it was right there on the wall of his office during all our talks last year! If he wanted me to have it, why didn't he just give it to me then?"**

**She felt as**** though she were sitting in an examination with a question she ought to have been able to answer in front of her, her brain slow and unresponsive. Was there something she had missed in the long talks with Dumbledore last year? Ought she to know what it all meant? Had Dumbledore expected her to understand?**

"If I know Dumbledore, I would say that he wanted you to figure it out yourself," McGonagall said, looking closely at her colleague, noticing his preoccupation with something that she could only assume had to do with what was in the Snitch. "And I'm sure you will, Potter."

**"And as for this book." Said Hermione, "**_**The Tales of Beedle the Bard **_**…**** I've never even heard of them!"**

**"You've never heard of **_**The Tales of Beedle the Bard**_**?" said Ron incredulously. "You're kidding, right?"**

**"No, I'm not," said Hermione in surprise. "Do you know them then?"**

**"Well, of course I do!"**

**Sophia looked up, diverted. The circumstance of Ron having read a book that Hermione had not was unprecedented.**

Everyone in the room laughed at that including Ron and Hermione.

**Ron, however, looked bemused by their surprise.**

**"Oh come on! All the old kids' stories are supposed to be Beedle's aren't they? 'The Fountain of Fair Fortune' … 'The Wizard and the Hopping Pot'… 'Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump'…"**

Hermione snorted at that one.

"That's actually a pretty good story," Ginny chuckled.

**"Excuse me?" said Hermione giggling. "What was the last one?"**

**"Come off it!" said Ron, looking in disbelief from Sophia to Hermione. "You must've heard of Babbitty Rabbitty –"**

**"Ron, you know full well Sophia and I were brought up by Muggles!" said Hermione. "We didn't hear stories like that when we were little; we heard 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' and 'Cinderella' –"**

**"What's that, an illness?" asked Ron.**

Hermione rolled her eyes, "it's a girl's name..."

"Really... I still think it sounds more like an illness," Ron shrugged and Hermione groaned.

**"So these are children's stories?" asked Hermione, bending against over the runes.**

**"Yeah." Said Ron uncertainly. "I mean, just what you hear, you know, that all these old stories came from Beedle. I dunno what they're like in the original versions."**

**"But I wonder why Dumbledore thought I should read them?"**

**Something cracked downstairs.**

**"Probably just Charlie, now Mum's asleep, sneaking off to regrow his hair," said Ron nervously.**

"Yes, it probably is," Charlie admitted, rubbing his hair.

**"All the same, we should get to bed," whispered Hermione. "It wouldn't do to oversleep tomorrow."**

**"No," agreed Ron. "A brutal triple murder by the bridegroom's mother might put a bit of damper on the wedding. I'll get the light."**

**And he clicked the Deluminator once more as Hermione left the room.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Sirius said putting down the book. "Dinner time!"

* * *

I don't think that little Albus will be named after Snape. I mean I don't completely hate him but he still isn't my favorite. And I don't know if I want Canon Next Gen. or Not. Thinking about an extra chapter in the book between Epilogue and last.


	8. Chapter 8: The Wedding

**Disclaimer: Never Have and Never Will own Harry Potter**

* * *

"... so I was holding on to the broom, trying to stop myself from crashing when I saw the snitch, and before on knew it, it was in my mouth," Sophia said, explaining her first game.

"Merlin Soph, I don't know how you keep playing Quidditch after your narrow escapes," Sirius said, remembering the game he had gone to in Sophia's third year when she fell fifty feet.

"I can't believe you would say that," Tonks said shaking her head. "You were the most reckless person I've ever seen play..."

"Sh... I'm trying to act like an adult now," Sirius pouted.

"You're not doing a very good job at it," Remus chuckled.

"What do you mean by escapes?" Molly said, who had listened to this recount of Sophia's match with a panicked expression. "Have you gotten hurt in another match?"

"Er..." Sophia said.

"What I'm curious about is just how Miss Granger stopped Quirrel!" Severus said in a cold voice as he glared at Hermione.

"Er..." Hermione said going bright red and she knew that he could see what she had done to him.

"Oh... she..." Ron started to say but Sophia clapped a hand over his mouth, there was no reason to make things worse than they had to be.

"Snape will kill her if you tell them that," Sophia hissed so only Ron could hear and he had to agree with that. Sirius was sure to laugh his head off and that would infuriate their already annoyed Potions Master.

"I think I knocked the back of his head," Hermione answered after a long pause where everyone was looking at Ron and Sophia questioningly.

"I believe we've all finished our meal," McGonagall prompted, trying to alleviate the tension. She remembered quite clearly that Snape's robes had mysteriously caught on fire that day and she wanted to help one of her favorite students out. Besides, she was rather amused by said event, even if she would never admit it.

"I'll read," Fleur volunteered as soon as they got to the room they had been reading in. No one was surprised by this, and Remus was already handing the book to her before she spoke. **"The Wedding."**

Fleur beamed as she read this and Bill chuckled. Molly smiled too, it was clear the girl really loved her son, and though she wasn't happy about losing her son (it was much too soon for that) she was pleased that they were happy together.

**Three o'clock on the following afternoon found Sophia, Ron, Fred and George standing outside****the great white marquee in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of the wedding guests. Sophia had used her metamorphoses powers** **and had changed her hair to a Weasley Red.**

"Cool" Fred and George beamed.

**The plan was to introduce Sophia as "Cousin Samantha" and trust to the great number of Weasley relatives to camouflage her.**

The Weasleys all chuckled at this.

"That should work," Arthur said, highly amused.

**All four of them were clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people to the right seats. A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a golden jacketed band, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance away under a tree. Sophia could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot.**

"Hmph," Molly huffed, they shouldn't be smoking. She wished the book would have named the band so she would know not to use them in the future.

**Behind Sophia, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden chairs set on either side of a long purple carpet. The supporting poles were entwined with white and gold flowers. Fred and George had fastened an enormous bunch of golden balloons over the exact point where Bill and Fleur would shortly become husband and wife.**

Fleur practically squeal when she read this.

**Outside, butterflies and bees were hovering lazily over the grass and hedgerow. **

**Sophia was wearing a sky blue dress, which had straps and came to just above her knees, and a white belt with darker blue pumps.**

"Oh, you must have looked beautiful," Molly exclaimed while Fleur nodded approvingly.

**"You look beautiful," A voice whispered and she looked up and saw George smiling at her. **

"Aww," Molly, Tonks, Ginny, and Hermione cooed to the blushing pair.

"**When I get married," said Fred, tugging at the collar of his own robes,**

"Don't you mean if... you'd have to find a girl crazy enough to marry you first," Bill teased his brother.

"True," Fred chuckled.

"Maybe you could get Loony to marry you," Ron chuckled.

"Don't call her Loony!" Ginny hissed. "Her name is Luna!"

"She might be a little too crazy for me," Fred chuckled again.

"**I won't be bothering with any of this nonsense. You can all wear what you like, and I'll put a full Body Bind Curse on Mum until it's all over."**

"I'd like to see you try," Molly said glaring at Fred, who gulped at the look his mum was giving him.

"**She wasn't too bad this morning, considering," said George. "Cried a bit about Percy not being here,**

Molly moaned at that and looked at her third oldest son sadly.

Percy wasn't looking at her, he couldn't even try to move his head, he didn't want to see what any of his family looked like right now. He wasn't sure if it would have been worse if they were glaring at him or if they looked at him indifferently, but he knew he couldn't take either response.

**but who wants him. Oh blimey, brace yourselves, here they come, look."**

**Brightly colored figures were appearing, one by one out of nowhere at the distant boundary of the yard. Within minutes a procession had formed, which began to snake its way up through the garden toward the marquee. Exotic flowers and bewitched birds fluttered on the witches' hats, while precious gems glittered from many of the wizards' cravats; a hum of excited chatter grew louder and louder, drowning the sound of the bees as the crowd approached the tent.**

"**Excellent, I think I see a few veela cousins," said Fred,**

Fleur rolled her eyes before she started reading again.

**craning his neck for a better look. "They'll need help understanding our English customs; I'll look after them…."**

**Fred darted past the gaggle of middle-aged witches heading for the procession, he said, "Here – permetiez moi to assister vous," to a pair of pretty French girls, who giggled and allowed him to escort them inside.** **George was left with the middle-aged witches and Ron took charge of Mr. Weasley's old Ministry-colleague Perkins, while a rather deaf old couple fell to Sophia's lot.**

"**Wotcher," said a familiar**

"I'm not old or deaf," Tonks pouted.

"I think this is a little later on in the day," Kingsley chuckled.

"I knew that," Tonks rolled her eyes.

**voice as he came out of the marquee again and found Tonks, Sirius and Remus at the front of the queue. She had turned blonde for the occasion while Sirius and Remus both looked dashing in their dress robes.**

"Mum always says I looked the most respectable when I'm blonde," Tonks explained to no one in particular.

"Hear that Remus-dashing," Sirius said turning way too smug for his own good.

**"Kings couldn't make it. He had to work but he sends deepest apologies and upmost congratulations." Tonks said but her husband not being there didn't damper her mood.**

"**Arthur told us you were the one with the curly hair. Sorry about last night," Sirius added in a whisper as Sophia led them up the aisle. "The Ministry's being very anti-werewolf at the moment and we thought our presence might not do you any favors."**

"When is the Ministry not being anti-werewolf?" Remus muttered bitterly.

"**It's fine, I understand," said Sophia, speaking more to Remus than Sirius.**

"Why don't you want to talk to me, Soph?" Sirius pouted.

"Sorry," Sophia chuckled. "I think I just feel more connected to Remus."

**Remus gave him a swift smile, but as they turned away Harry saw Remus' face fall again into lines of misery.**

"I'm being serious this time, what is wrong with you?" Sirius said.

"Aren't you always Sirius?" Remus answered absentmindedly, he didn't like the distance that he was showing in the book, and it was clear that he was regretting something.

Sirius just frowned; his husband never used that pun. Remus must really be worried about something.

**She did not understand it, but there was no time to dwell on the matter. Hagrid was causing a certain amount of disruption. Having misunderstood Fred's directions as he had sat himself, not upon the magically enlarged and reinforced seat set aside for him in the back row, but on five sets that now resembled a large pile of golden matchsticks.**

The annoyance was clear in Fleur's voice as she read this, which wasn't helped by the fact that several people laughed at this.

**While Mr. Weasley repaired the damage and Hagrid shouted apologies to anybody who would listen, Sophia hurried back to the entrance to find Ron face-to-face with a most eccentric-looking wizard. Slightly cross-eyed, with shoulder-length white hair the texture of candyfloss, he wore a cap whose tassel dangled in front of his nose and robes of an eye-watering shade of egg-yolk yellow. An odd symbol, rather like a triangular eye, glistened from a golden chain around his neck.**

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at that. It sounded like the mark that identified the Deathly Hallows but he couldn't be sure, though he thought that Xenophilius would be someone that would believe in something like this.

"**Xenophilius Lovegood," he said, extending a hand to Sophia, "my daughter and I live just over the hill, so kind of the good Weasleys to invite us.**

"I don't think it was the good Weasleys that invited them... it must have been my evil twin," Fred said.

"I'm not evil," George huffed indignantly and then the two of them laughed.

**"But I think you know my Luna?" he added to Ron.**

"Ah, so we're going to get to meet this girl that is too crazy for even Fred," Sirius chuckled. "This should be interesting."

"That's putting it mildly," Ron chuckled.

"**Yes," said Ron. "Isn't she with you?"**

"**She lingered in that charming little garden to say hello to the gnomes, such a glorious infestation!**

"Argh!" Molly groaned at that, couldn't they just stay away for a day like this, is that too much to ask for?

**How few wizards realize just how much we can learn from the wise little gnomes – or, to give them their correct name, the Gernumbli gardensi."**

"**Ours do know a lot of excellent swear words," said Ron, "but I think Fred and George taught them those."**

Molly glared at the twins, who both shrugged their shoulders at that.

**He led a party of warlocks into the marquee as Luna rushed up.**

"**Hello, Sophia!" she said.**

"**Er – my name's Samantha," said Sophia, flummoxed.**

"Wow, that's right, you're under the Polyjuice Potion," Hermione said. "How did she know it was you?"

"Luna has a way of looking at things that's a bit different," Ginny shrugged.

"I've noticed," Hermione rolled her eyes.

Ginny frowned at her friend; she thought that Luna and Hermione would actually have a good friendship if they would just try to understand each other.

"**Oh, have you changed that too?" she asked brightly.**

Sirius chuckled at that, "I like her."

"Well crazy people do have to stick together," Tonks teased.

"I noticed you laughing too, Tonks," Sirius said, "one would say that this applies to you, too."

Tonks just shrugged at this comment.

"**How did you know -?"**

"**Oh, just your expression," she said.**

**Like her father, Luna was wearing bright yellow robes, which she had accessorized with a large sunflower in her hair. Once you get over the brightness of it all, the general effect was quite pleasant.**

Ginny shot a glare at Sophia there and in turn Sophia looked perplexed at the comment.

**At least there were no radishes dangling from her ears.**

This time Sophia—and several of the people that knew Luna—chuckled at this.

**Xenophilius, who was deep in conversation with an acquaintance, had missed the exchange between Luna and Sophia. Biding the wizard farewell, he turned to his daughter, who held up her****finger and said, "Daddy, look – one of the gnomes actually bit me."**

"Oh dear, she really needs to have that looked at," Molly said half worried and half annoyed, she wouldn't need something like that on this day of all days.

"**How wonderful! Gnome saliva is enormously beneficial." Said Mr. Lovegood, seizing Luna's outstretched fingers and examining the bleeding puncture marks. "Luna, my love, if you should feel any burgeoning talent today – perhaps an unexpected urge to sing opera or to declaims in Mermish – do not repress it! You may have been gifted by the Gernumblies!"**

Everyone chuckled at that.

"I can see where she got her sense on life from," Ron sniggered.

Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head at this exchange; it was all so ridiculous.

**Ron, passing them in the opposite direction let out a loud snort.**

"**Ron can laugh," said Luna serenely as Sophia led her and Xenophilius toward their seats, "but my father has done a lot of research on Gernumbli magic."**

"**Really?" said Sophia, who had long since decided not to challenge Luna or her father's peculiar views.**

"Hm... that sounds like I'm going to get closer to Luna," Sophia said thoughtfully.

"Not necessarily," Hermione said. "I mean you already know that you shouldn't questions comments like this because she's just going to give you some kind of crazy answer."

"Maybe," Sophia shrugged. "But it still seems like she might be my friend now."

"**Are you sure you don't want to put anything on that bite, though?"**

"**Oh, it's fine," said Luna, sucking her finger in a dreamy fashion and looking Sophia up and down. "You look smart. I told Daddy most people would probably wear dress robes, but he believes you ought to wear sun colors to a wedding, for luck, you know."**

"I think I would have preferred you wore dress robes," Fleur mumbled, though she didn't mind as much knowing the reason why they were wearing the hideous sounding robes.

**As she drifted off after her father, Ron reappeared with an elderly witch clutching his arm. Her beaky nose, red-rimmed eyes, and leathery pink hat gave her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.**

"Auntie Muriel," all the Weasley children groaned.

"Be nice," Molly glared at them halfheartedly.

"…**and your hair's much too long, Ronald, for a moment I thought you were Ginerva.**

"You grow your hair out, too," Molly groaned, looking at Ron with a scowl. Did all her boys have to like that ridiculous long haired look?

**Merlin's beard, what is Xenophilius Lovegood wearing? He looks like an omelet. And who are****you?" she barked at Sophia.**

Everyone chuckled at the omelet comment.

"**Oh yeah, Auntie Muriel, this is our cousin Samantha."**

"**Another Weasley? You breed like gnomes. Isn't Sophia Potter here? I was hoping to meet her. I thought she was a friend of yours, Ronald, or have you merely been boasting?"**

"**No – she couldn't come –"**

"**Hmm. Made an excuse, did he? Not as gormless as she looks in press photographs, then.**

"Do I really look gormless in photographs?" Sophia muttered.

"No," most people said but there was one yes from Draco that was accompanied by a snigger.

**"I've just been instructing the bride on how best to wear my tiara," she shouted at Samantha.**

"Sorry about that, Love," Bill sighed to Fleur, who just shrugged. "I didn't mean to stick my Aunt on you."

"**Goblin-made, you know, and been in my family for centuries. She's a good-looking girl, but still – French.**

"There is nothing wrong with being French," Fleur said haughty and looked at everyone in the room, making sure that no one argued with her.

**Well, well, find me a good seat, Ronald, I am a hundred and seven and I ought not to be on my feet too long."**

"Yeah Ronald, find her a seat so we won't have to listen to her anymore," Fred added.

"Fred!" Molly scolded him reflexively.

**Ron gave Sophia a meaningful look as he passed and did not reappear for some time. When next they met at the entrance, Sophia had shown a dozen more people to their places. The Marquee was nearly full now and for the first time there was no queue outside.**

"**Nightmare, Muriel is," said Ron, mopping his forehead on his sleeve. "She used to come for Christmas every year, then, thank God, she took offense because Fred and George set off a Dungbomb under her chair at diner.**

"Best Christmas ever," Fred and George said together and all the Weasleys sniggered. Molly glared at them again, but didn't say anything.

**Dad always says she'll have written them out of her will – like they care, they're going to end up richer than anyone in the family, rate they're going… Wow," he added, blinking rather rapidly as Hermione came hurrying toward them. "You look great!"**

"Aw... is Ickie Ronnie all tongue tied?" Fred teased.

"Shut up," Ron said looking at the floor, his ears bright red. Hermione was looking at Ron from the corner of her eye with a small smile.

"**Always the tone of surprise," said Hermione, though she smiled. She was wearing a floaty, ruby red-colored dress with matching high heels; her hair was sleek and shiny. "Your Great-Aunt Muriel doesn't agree, I just met her upstairs while she was giving Fleur the tiara. She said, 'Oh dear, is this the Muggle-born?' and then, 'Bad posture and skinny ankles.'"**

"Well as you can see, Aunt Muriel doesn't say anything nice about anyone so don't worry about it," Ginny told her friend who didn't seem to have noticed what was going on in the book, she was just looking at Ron was a hopeful expression.

"**Don't take it personally, she's rude to everyone," said Ron.**

"**Talking about Muriel?" inquired George, reemerging from the marquee with Fred. "Yeah, she's just told me my ears are lopsided.**

"Argh," Molly said now glaring at the book, gritting her teeth. She had no right to say that about her baby like that... the poor boy had just lost his ear.

**Old bat. I wish old Uncle Billius was still with us, though; he was a right laugh at weddings."**

"**Wasn't he the one who saw a Grim and died twenty-four hours later?" asked Hermione.**

"**Well, yeah, he went a bit odd toward the end," conceded George.**

"**But before he went loopy he was the life and soul of the party," said Fred. "He used to down an entire bottle of firewhisky, then run onto the dance floor, hoist up his robes, and start pulling bunches of flowers out of his –"**

Though Fleur was reading this with disgust that didn't stop Sirius and several other people from laughing.

"Brilliant!" Sirius said. "I think I would have liked him."

"**Yes, he sounds a real charmer," said Hermione, while Sophia roared with laughter.**

"**Never married, for some reason," said Ron.**

"What a shocker," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"**You amaze me," said Hermione.**

**They were all laughing so much that none of them noticed the latecomer, a dark-haired young man with a large, curved nose and thick black eyebrows, until he held out his invitation to Ron and said, with his eyes on Hermione, "You look vunderful."**

Ron was glaring at the book, his ears now red with anger. _Why did he have to show up now when things with Hermione seemed to being going better?_

"Why would Viktor be here?" Hermione questioned and Ron scowl darkened.

"He is my friend, I would want him there," Fleur explained and before Ron could open his mouth to start a fight with Hermione, she started reading again.

"**Viktor!" she shrieked, and dropped her small beaded bag, which made a loud thump quite disproportionate to its size.**

Remus, McGonagall, and Arthur all raised an eyebrow at that, wondering why that was and having a good idea what the answer would be to that.

**As she scrambled, blushing, to pick it up, she said "I didn't know you were – goodness – it's lovely to see – how are you?"**

Ron started making clucking sounds with his tongue as he crossed his arms. He should have known better than to hope that Hermione would ever be interested in him when she had an international Quidditch star interested in her.

**Ron's ears had turned bright red again. After glancing at Krum's invitation as if he did not believe a word of it, he said, much too loudly, "how come you're here?"**

All of Ron's siblings were laughing at that, which only made him surlier.

"Ronald, I know you have better manners than that," Molly reprimanded him.

"He's just my friend, Ron," Hermione whispered so only Ron could hear, but seeing as he didn't budge at all she wasn't sure he could hear her at all.

"**Fleur invited me," said Krum, eyebrows raised.**

**Sophia, who had no grudge against Krum, shook hands; then feeling that it would be prudent to remove Krum from Ron's vicinity, offered to show him his seat.**

"Thank you Sophia," Fleur said, not wanting anything to happen that would ruin her day.

"I wish you hadn't done that," Sirius pouted.

"**Your friend is not pleased to see me," said Krum, as they entered the now packed marquee. "Or is he a relative?" he added with a glance at Sophia's red curly hair.**

"**Cousin." Sophia muttered, but Krum was not really listening. His appearance was causing a stir, particularly amongst the veela cousins:**

Fred was frowning at this, he wanted the veela cousins to himself.

**He was, after all, a famous Quidditch player.**

Sophia gave Ron an apologetic look at that but her friend didn't seem to notice it.

**While people were still craning their necks to get a good look at him, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George came hurrying down the aisle.**

"**Time to sit down," Fred told Sophia, "or we're going to get run over by the bride."**

**Sophia, Ron and Hermione took their seats in the second row behind Fred and George. Hermione looked rather pink and Ron's ears were still scarlet. After a few moments he muttered to Sophia, "Did you see he's grown a stupid little beard?"**

Everyone chuckled at Ron's obvious jealousy.

**Sophia just jerked her head irritably.**

**A sense of jittery anticipation had filled the warm tent, the general murmuring broken by occasional spurts of excited laughter. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley strolled up the aisle, smiling and waving at relatives; Mrs. Weasley was wearing a brand-new set of amethyst colored robes with a matching hat.**

**A moment later Bill and Charlie stood up at the front of the marquee, both wearing dress robes, with larger white roses in their buttonholes; Fred wolf-whistled and there was an outbreak of giggling from the veela cousins.**

Fleur read this with excitement again, though she shot a disapproving look at Fred (which was nothing to the one his mum was giving him at the moment).

"Fredrick Weasley you better behave yourself!" Molly hissed at him.

**Then the crowd fell silent as music swelled from what seemed to be the golden balloons.**

"**Ooooh!" said Hermione, swiveling around in her seat to look at the entrance.**

**A great collective sigh issued from the assembled witches and wizards as Monsieur Delacour and Fleur came walking up the aisle, Fleur gliding, Monsieur Delacour bouncing and beaming. Fleur was wearing a very simple white dress and seemed to be emitting a strong, silvery glow. While her radiance usually dimmed everyone else by comparison, today it beautified everybody it fell upon.**

"Wow, I think she's started to glow like that now," Sirius whispered loudly to Remus. Fleur looked at him and blushed slightly before she started reading again.

**Ginny and Gabrielle, both wearing golden dresses, looked even prettier than usual and once Fleur had reached for him, Bill did not look as though he had ever met Fenrir Greyback.**

"Greyback!" Several people gasped and Remus hissed bitterly.

"My poor baby," Molly said looking at Bill and then getting up to sit next to him. She was starting to really hate this book... it brought so much bad news.

"I'm okay Mum," Bill said impatiently but allowed his mum to hug him, knowing that she needed that right now. "It hasn't happened yet."

"You don't think you're... he was... a werewolf..." Arthur sputtered out, looking pale as he watched his eldest son wrap his arms around Molly.

"I'm sure Sophia would have made some kind of reference to that before now if that was the case," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Who's Greyback?" Sophia questioned them, wondering who this guy could be to have everyone look so anxious.

"He's a werewolf, a vicious one if half of what I've read about him is true..." Hermione started to explain, her voice was tight and she tried not to speak too loudly.

"It's true," Remus said in a cold voice that most the people in the room weren't used to hearing. "He would threaten people by saying he would attack their children if they didn't do what he said... and he would follow through with the threat."

"That's horrible," Hermione whispered. She paled as she understood how Remus would know about this. This must have been the monster that had turned him as a boy.

"**Ladies and gentlemen," said a slightly singsong voice, and with a slight shock, Sophia saw the same small, tufty-hired wizard who had presided at Dumbledore's funeral, now standing in front of Bill and Fleur. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two faithful souls…"**

"**Yes, my tiara set off the whole thing nicely," said Auntie Muriel in a rather carrying whisper.**

Fleur glared as she read this, she wanted to hear about the ceremony, not what Bill's awful aunt had to say about it... or anything else.

"**But I must say, Ginerva's dress is far too low cut."**

**Ginny glanced around, grinning, winked at Sophia, then quickly faced the front again. **

"**Do you, William Arthur, take Fleur Isabelle…?"**

**In the front row,**

Fleur's voice went from excited squeal to annoyance in a flash. "Can't you pay attention to the wedding a little more closely Sophia!"

"Sorry," Sophia said automatically.

**Mrs. Weasley and Madame Delacour were both sobbing quietly into scraps of lace. Trumpetlike sounds from the back of the marquee told everyone that Hagrid had taken out one of his own tablecloth-sized handkerchiefs. Hermione turned around and beamed at Sophia; her eyes too were full of tears that matched Sophia's own tear filled eyes.**

"What's with it with girls and crying at weddings," Ron mumbled, rolling his eyes. He was smacked for his troubles. "Ow... Mione, Soph what was that for?"

"…**then I declare you bonded for life."**

**The tufty-haired wizard waved his hand high over the heads of Bill and Fleur and a shower of silver stars fell upon them, spiraling around their now entwined figures. As Fred and George led a round of applause, the golden balloons overhead burst. Birds of paradise and tiny golden bells flew and floated out of them, adding their songs and chimes to the din.**

"**Ladies and gentlemen!" called the tufty-haired wizard. "If you would please stand up!"**

**They all did so, Auntie Muriel grumbling audibly; he waved his wand again. The scars on which they had been sitting rose gracefully into the air as the canvas walls of the marquee vanished, so that they stood beneath a canopy supported by golden poles, with a glorious view of the sunlit orchard and surrounding countryside. Next, a pool of molten gold spread from the center of the tent to form a gleaming dance floor; the hovering chairs grouped themselves around small, white-clothed tables, which all floated gracefully back to earth round it, and the golden-jacketed hand trooped toward a podium.**

"**Smooth," said Ron approvingly as the waiters popped up on all sides, some hearing silver trays of pumpkin juice, butterbeer, and firewhisky, others tottering piles of tarts and sandwiches.**

"**We should go and congratulate them!" said Hermione, standing on tiptoe to see the place where Bill and Fleur had vanished amid a crowd of well-wishers.**

"Yeah, that sounds like so much fun," Ron grumbled to himself.

"**We'll have time later," shrugged Ron, snatching three butterbeers from a passing tray and handing one to Sophia. "Hermione, cop hold, let's grab a table…. Not there! Nowhere near Muriel –"**

"Always a good decision... keeping way from Muriel," Fred chuckled.

**Ron led the way across the empty dance floor, glancing left and right as he went; Sophia felt sure that he was keeping an eye out for Krum.**

"I thought you got over this," Hermione rolled her eyes, he had asked for Viktor's autograph at the end of fourth year after all... Okay so he acted all bothered when she was writing that letter to Viktor just a few nights ago (a thought that always made a wave of pleasure go through her stomach).

**By the time they had reached the other side of the marquee, most of the tables were occupied: The emptiest was the one where Luna sat alone.**

"**All right if we join you?" asked Ron.**

"**Oh yes," she said happily. "Daddy's just gone to give Bill and Fleur our present."**

"**What is it, a lifetime's supply of Gurdyroots?" asked Ron.**

"What's Gurdyroot?" Sophia questioned.

"No idea," Ron shrugged. "But knowing Luna, it's something better not knowing."

**Hermione aimed a kick at him under the table, but caught Sophia instead.**

"Sorry Sophia," Hermione said as most people in the room chuckled.

"It's okay," Sophia answered and then added, "but it sounds like you were trying to defend Luna."

"I know," Hermione agreed. "I suppose you were right and we did become friends... I wonder how that happened."

**Eyes watering in pain, Sophia lost track of the conversation for a few moments.**

**The band had begun to play, Bill and Fleur took to the dance floor first, to great applause; after a while, Mr. Weasley led Madame Delacour onto the floor, followed by Mr. Weasley and Fleur's father.**

"**I like this song," said Luna, swaying in time to the waltzlike tune, and a few seconds later she stood up and glided onto the dance floor, where she revolved on the spot, quite alone, eyes closed and waving her arms.**

"It looks like she's taking the Gernumbli bite seriously," Fred said. "Good for her."

"**She's great isn't she?" said Ron admiringly. "Always good value."**

"I can kind of see that," Ron said thoughtfully, but he was still a little weirded out by the odd girl.

**But the smile vanished from his face at once: Viktor Krum had dropped into Luna's vacant seat. Hermione looked pleasurably flustered but this time Krum had not come to compliment her. With a scowl on his face he said, "Who is that man in the yellow?"**

"**That's Xenophilius Lovegood, he's the father of a friend of ours," said Ron. His pugnacious tone indicated that they were not about to laugh at Xenophilius, despite the clear provocation. "Come and dance," he added abruptly to Hermione.**

"Did you just ask me to dance?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Ron didn't think he could say anything right now so he just nodded his head.

Hermione smiled at this, she knew that Ron didn't like dancing, it must mean something that he was asking her like this... still she wished he wasn't doing this because Viktor was there, he might just be acting like an over protecting git and not actually like her...

**She looked taken aback, but pleased too,**

"Yep, that's how she looks," George said, looking at Hermione closely.

"Shut up," Hermione hissed at him as the whole room chuckled.

**and got up. They vanished together into the growing throng on the dance floor.**

"**Ah, they are together now?" asked Krum, momentarily distracted.**

Both Ron and Hermione looked at the book hopefully though they both said, "of course not," at the same time and then looked away disappointed.

"**Er – sort of," said Sophia.**

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ron questioned with a groan, he really wanted a yes or no answer not a 'sort of ' answer.

Hermione looked at him, she couldn't tell by his tone if he was opposed to the idea or if he would like it. She wanted to ask him about it... ask him what he was thinking but the fact that they were in a room full of people wasn't lost on her and it was already impossibly hard for her to talk to Ron about this without the audience.

"That you two are still being idiots," Ginny grumbled, rolling her eyes.

"**Who are you?" Krum asked.**

"**Samantha Weasley."**

**They shook hands.**

"**You, Samantha – you know this man Lovegood well?"**

"**No, I only met him today. Why?"**

**Krum glowered over the top of his drink, watching Xenophilius, who was chatting to several warlocks on the other side of the dance floor.**

"**Because," said Krum, "If he vus not a guest of Fleur's I vould dud him, here and now, for veering that filthy sign upon his chest."**

Dumbledore sighed, he was right and he knew what was coming next.

Everyone looked at Dumbledore, not used to him having such a reaction which was all the more noticeable because it didn't mean anything to the rest of them.

"**Sign?" said Sophia, looking over at Xenophilius too. The strange triangular eye was gleaming on his chest. "Why? What's wrong with it?"**

"**Grindelvald. That is Grindelvald's sign."**

"Oh," several people said, thinking they understood why Dumbledore would react to that, obviously he would have known about the sign.

However, everyone's gasp only seemed to make Dumbledore look even glummer. He knew they had come to the wrong conclusion, but he didn't really have time to worry about them, because his mind was starting to travel to his most painful memories and he was having trouble stopping them from coming.

"**Grindelwald… the Dark wizard Dumbledore defeated?"**

"**Exactly."**

**Krum's jaw muscles worked as if he were chewing, then he said, "Grindelvald killed many people, my grandfather, for instance. Of course, he vos never powerful in this country, they said he feared Dumbledore –**

Dumbledore wondered then why Grindelwald never came here, was it really fear of him or was it some other reason. He would like to think it was because a part of Grindelwald thought about what had happened between them, but he wasn't sure he believed that.

**and rightly, seeing how he vos finished. But this" – he pointed a finger at Xenophilius – "this is his symbol, I recognized it at vunce: Grindelvald carved it into a vall at Durmstrang ver he vos a****pupil there. Some idiots copied it onto their books and clothes thinking to shock, make themselves impressive – until those of us who had lost family members to Grindelvald taught them better."**

"That doesn't sound like something that Xenophilius would wear," Arthur said. "He might be eccentric but he definitely never supported the dark arts."

"I believe that Mr. Krum is under a misunderstanding," Dumbledore said. "The symbol wasn't made by Grindelwald..." it was hard for him to keep his voice even as he said the name of his one-time friend, but it looked like no one but McGonagall noticed that. "The symbol was used a long time before he was even born."

**Krum cracked his knuckles menacingly and glowered at Xenophilius. Sophia felt perplexed. It seemed incredibly unlikely that Luna's father was a supporter of the Dark Arts, and nobody else in the tent seemed to have recognized the triangular, rune-like shape.**

"**Are you – er – quite sure it's Grindelwald's -?"**

"**I am not mistaken," said Krum coldly. "I walked past that sign for several years, I know it vell."**

"So the symbol might not have been made by Grindelwald but it was obviously something that he was interested in," Snape said. "I wonder what it means."

"Who cares? It's probably some way to gain power, that sounds like something that he would be interested in," Sirius groaned impatiently, not noticing the dark expression in Dumbledore's eyes.

"**Well, there's a chance," said Sophia, "that Xenophilius doesn't actually know what the symbol means, the Lovegoods are quite… unusual. He could have easily picked it up somewhere and think it's a cross section of the head of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack or something."**

Several people snorted at this.

"What's a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?" Sirius questioned.

"It's a creature that Luna and her dad go on expeditions to try and find," Ginny shrugged. "I don't think they actually exist... but Luna is convinced they do."

"Well just because they haven't been discovered yet, doesn't mean they don't exist," Remus chuckled at Ginny's answer. "Though I doubt this particular creature exists, some of the other ones that she has mentioned actually have some proof they might be real."

"Really?" Hermione asked, shocked by that.

Remus nodded his head.

"I didn't know you knew her?" Sophia questioned.

"You do realize that your class wasn't the only one that I taught when I was a professor right?" Remus teased lightly.

"Oh, right," Sophia smiled at him sheepishly.

"**The cross section of a vot?"**

"**Well, I don't know what they are, but apparently he and his daughter go on holiday looking for them…."**

**Sophia felt she was doing a bad job explaining Luna and her father.**

"Well, it's a difficult thing to do, so it's okay Phia," George chuckled.

"**That's her," he said, pointing at Luna, who was still dancing alone, waving her arms around her head like someone attempting to beat off midges.**

Everyone snorted at that.

"What is she doing?" Ron asked while laughing.

"I have no idea," Sophia chuckled.

"**Vy is she doing that?" asked Krum.**

"**Probably trying to get rid of a Wrackspurt," said Sophia, who recognized the symptoms.**

"But it looks like you're going to know in the future, don't you feel pleased by that, Sophia," Fred laughed.

**Krum did not seem to know whether or not Sophia was making fun of him. He drew his hand from inside his robe and tapped it menacingly on his thighs; sparks flew out of the end.**

"**Gregorovitch!" said Sophia loudly,**

"Ah... so that's the real reason why Krum is there, so Harry could figure out the wand clue," George said. "See, Ronnie... there's nothing to worry about, he's just a plot device."

"Whatever," Ron said rolling his eyes.

**and Krum started, but Sophia was too excited to care; the memory had come back to her at the sight of Krum's wand: Ollivander taking it and examining it carefully before the Triwizard Tournament.**

"**Vot about him?" asked Krum suspiciously.**

"**He's a wandmaker!"**

"**I know that," said Krum.**

"**He made your wand! That's why I thought – Quidditch –"**

"And now you just made yourself look like some crazy person," Sirius said shaking his head.

"Like she wasn't already doing that talking about Snorkackes and Wrackspurt," Hermione pointed out rolling her eyes.

**Krum was looking more and more suspicious.**

"**How do you know Gregorovitch made my wand?"**

"**I…I read it somewhere, I think," said Sophia. "In a – a fan magazine," she improvised wildly and ****Krum looked mollified.**

"I didn't know that you read fan magazines," Ron said.

"I didn't know you read other peoples fan articles, I would have thought you had enough reading your own," Draco sneered.

"Ah, look little Draky is jealous of ickle Sophie's fame," Fred said in a baby voice.

"Isn't that just adorable," George added and Draco glared at the both of them.

"**I had not realized I ever discussed my vand with fans," he said.**

"**So… er… where is Gregorovitch these days?"**

**Krum looked puzzled.**

"**He retired several years ago. I was one of the last to purchase a Gregorovitch vand. They are the best –**

"Yeah bloody right, Ollivander's wands kick their arse," Charlie said.

"Charlie, watch your language," Molly snapped at her son.

"I think that it is a matter of where you come from that colors your opinion of who the best wand maker is," Fleur said reasonably.

"Are there any good wand makers in France, Fleur?" Sophia questioned, knowing that the core for her wand was a piece of her veela grandmother's hair.

"Oh yes, there are several good wand makers in France, though I would have to say that none of them are as famous as Ollivander or Gregorovitch, but they are more willing to use... unusual cores in their wands... which suits me very well."

**although I know, of course, that your Britons set much store by Ollivander."**

**Sophia did not answer. She pretended to watch the dancers, like Krum, but she was thinking hard. So Voldemort was looking for a celebrated wandmaker and Sophia did not have to search far for a reason. It was surely because of what Sophia's wand had done on the night that Voldemort pursued her across the skies.**

Sophia looked at Dumbledore to see if the theory made sense to him and was surprised to see the frown on the old headmasters face. _Hm... something more might be happening here then I thought,_ Sophia thought to himself.

**The holly and phoenix feather wand had conquered the borrowed wand, something that Ollivander had not anticipated or understood. Would Gregorovitch know better? Was he truly more skilled than Ollivander, did he know secrets of wands that Ollivander did not?**

"**This girl is very nice-looking," Krum said, recalling Sophia to her surroundings. Krum was pointing at Ginny, who had just joined Luna.**

"Oi, stay away from her," Ron hissed out unnecessarily loud but he couldn't help it, he couldn't stand it if the ruddy pumpkin head went after his sister after everything that went on with Hermione.

Everyone laughed at that especially Ginny, who never would have gone near him in a million years.

Hermione, however, was frowning. His reaction to this was so closely similar to the way that he reacted when Viktor was near her that she could easy believe that Ron only thought of her like a sister... not an altogether comforting thought to her at the moment.

"**She is also a relative of yours?"**

"**Yeah," said Sophia said awkwardly, "but she's seeing someone." Sophia was thinking of her friend Neville who has had a crush on Ginny for years.**

"Really," Ginny said quite delighted by this new information, she thought Neville was sweet.

**Krum grunted.**

**"Vould you like to dance," he said but she just shook her head preoccupied. **

"Good on you, Soph." Ron said with a proud smile on his face.

"**Vot," he said, draining his goblet and getting to his feet again, "is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?"**

"See, he's just an attention seeking prat," Ron hissed toward Hermione, who just rolled her eyes at him.

**And he strode off leaving Sophia to take a sandwich from a passing waiter and make his way around the edge of the crowded dance floor. She wanted to find Ron, to tell him about Gregorovitch, but he was dancing with Hermione out in the middle of the floor.**

"Well you could have come too, Sophia, unless you're going to be keeping that from me too," Hermione said, ending with a sharp note.

"I don't like dancing," Sophia replied, evading her glare. When that didn't work, she added, "besides, I think I was trying to give you two sometime alone..."

That caused Hermione's checks to turn slightly pink; after all, she did like the idea of dancing with Ron.

**Sophia leaned up against one of the golden pillars and saw Ginny, who was now dancing with Fred and George's friend Lee Jordan. She had never been to a wedding before, so she could not judge how Wizarding celebrations differed from Muggle ones, though she was pretty sure that the latter would not involve a wedding cake topped with two model phoenixes that took flight when the cake was cut, or bottles of champagne that floated unsupported through the crowd. As the evening drew in, and moths began to swoop under the canopy, now lit with floating golden lanterns, the revelry became more and more uncontained. Fred had long since disappeared into the darkness with a pair of Fleur's cousins;**

"Excellent!" Fred said getting a high five from Charlie and Molly glared at them.

**Sophia could almost feel George's gaze on her as he sat talking to one of his many Weasley Relatives. ****Charlie, Hagrid, and a squat wizard in a purple porkpie hat were singing "Odo the Hero" in the corner.**

**Wandering through the crowd so as to escape a drunken uncle of Ron's who seemed unsure ****whether or not Sophia was his daughter; Sophia spotted an old wizard sitting alone at a table. His cloud of white hair made him look rather like an aged dandelion clock and was topped by a moth-eaten fez.**

Several people sniggered at this.

**He was vaguely familiar: Racking her brains, Sophia suddenly realized that this was Elphias Doge, member of the Order of the Phoenix and the writer of Dumbledore's obituary.**

**Sophia approached him.**

"**May I sit down?"**

"**Of course, of course," said Doge; he had a rather high-pitched, wheezy voice.**

**Sophia leaned in.**

"**Mr. Doge, I'm Sophia Potter."**

"You can't just tell people that Potter, you're supposed to be hiding," McGonagall said, giving Sophia a disappointed look, really she should have known better than that.

"I do not believe that Elphias will be a security risk," Dumbledore said. "It is likely that he already knows that Sophia is there... after all he is a member of the Order."

"Still, I would think that Potter would take more care with her safety than that," McGonagall said, her tone still quite stern.

**Doge gasped.**

"**My dear girl Arthur told me you were here, disguised…. I am so glad, so honored!"**

**In a flutter of nervous pleasure Doge poured Sophia a goblet of champagne.**

"**I thought of writing to you," he whispered, "after Dumbledore… the shock… and for you, I am sure…"**

**Doge's tiny eyes filled with sudden tears.**

"**I saw the obituary you wrote for the Daily Prophet," said Sophia. "I didn't realize you knew Professor Dumbledore so well."**

"**As well as anyone," said Doge, dabbing his eyes with a napkin. "Certainly I knew him longest, if you don't count Aberforth – and somehow, people never do seem to count Aberforth."**

"Why is that?" Sirius asked and saw a familiar look in Dumbledore's eyes as he always had when someone talked about his own brother.

"Aberforth prefers it that way," Dumbledore said sadly, wishing he could have somehow bridged the gap between his brother, knowing that he was to blame for it in the first place.

"**Speaking of the Daily Prophet… I don't know whether you saw, Mr. Doge -?"**

"**Oh, please call me Elphias, dear boy."**

"**Elphias, I don't know whether you saw the interview Rita Skeeter gave about Dumbledore?"**

"Why are you bringing that up Sophia?" Hermione groaned.

"I've no idea," Sophia said, just as confused as most of the people in the room seemed to be.

**Doge's face flooded with angry color.**

"**Oh yes, Sophia, I saw it. That woman, or vulture might be a more accurate term, positively pestered me to talk to her, I am ashamed to say that I became rather rude, called her an interfering trout, which resulted, as you may have seen, in aspersions cast upon my sanity."**

"**Well, in that interview," Sophia went on, "Rita Skeeter hinted that Professor Dumbledore was involved in the Dark Arts when he was young."**

"Sophia, how can you believe that?" Hermione said frowning, "you know better than anyone that she lies about everything." Sophia shrugged again, not really understanding herself here either.

However that didn't stop Snape and Draco from looking at Dumbledore thoughtfully and seeing that he looked almost ashamed... or were they just imagining that... it was hard to get anything out of Dumbledore's face.

"**Don't believe a word of it!" said Doge at once. "Not a word, Sophia! Let nothing tarnish your memories of Albus Dumbledore!"**

**Sophia looked into Doge's earnest, pained face, and felt, not reassured, but frustrated. Did Doge really think it was that easy, that Harry could simply choose not to believe? Didn't Doge understand Harry's need to be sure, to know everything?"**

"Why do you have to know everything Potter, is the man not allowed to have a past," Severus said coldly, Potter was showing his arrogance again. "It has nothing to do with you."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows questioningly. Why was his book self so angry about this? It was true that he was intrigued by this bit of information, but he didn't think he was in the same state as he appeared to be in the book. "I know that, sir," he said, still frowning.

**Perhaps Doge suspected Sophia's feelings, for he looked concerned and hurried on, "Sophia, Rita Skeeter is a dreadful –"**

**But he was interrupted by a shrill cackle.**

"**Rita Skeeter? Oh, I love her, always read her!"**

"Three guesses who that is," Fred groaned.

"Though if you take more than one you're a git," George added, groaning as well.

**Sophia and Doge looked up to see Auntie Muriel standing there, the plumes dancing on her hair, a goblet of champagne in her hand. "She's written a book about Dumbledore, you know!"**

"**Hello, Muriel," said Doge, "Yes, we were just discussing –"**

"**You there! Give me your chair; I'm a hundred and seven!"**

"I don't know why she's complaining so much, that's not very old," Tonks said. "You're like hundred and fifty, aren't you sir?"

"Almost," Dumbledore chuckled at her.

**Another redheaded Weasley cousin jumped off his seat, looking alarmed, and Auntie Muriel swung it around with surprising strength and plopped herself down upon it between Doge and Sophia.**

"**Hello again, Samantha or whatever your name is," she said to Sophia, "Now what were you saying about Rita Skeeter, Elphias? You know, she's written a biography of Dumbledore? I can't wait to read it. I must remember to place an order at Flourish and Blotts!"**

**Doge looked stiff and solemn at this but Auntie Muriel drained her goblet and clicked her bony fingers at a passing waiter for a replacement. She took another large gulp of champagne, belched and then said, "There's no need to look like a pair of stuffed frogs! Before he became so respected and respectable and all that tosh, there were some mighty funny rumors about Albus!"**

"**Ill-informed sniping," said Doge, turning radish-colored again.**

"Hmmm... does that mean there really have been rumors like that?" Charlie said thoughtfully.

"Yes," Dumbledore answered which caused Charlie to blush.

"**You would say that, Elphias," cackled Auntie Muriel. "I noticed how you skated over the sticky patches in that obituary of yours!"**

Dumbledore sighed, hoping they weren't about to talk about that time period.

"**I'm sorry you think so," said Doge, more coldly still. "I assure you I was writing from the heart."**

"**Oh, we all know you worshipped Dumbledore; I daresay you'll still think he was a saint even if it does turn out that he did away with his Squib sister!"**

Dumbledore shivered at that; it was callous and incorrect but there was just enough truth in it that made him feel like he was stabbed in the chest. He was the reason his sister was gone after all, no matter if he cast the charm that actually ended her life or not.

Everyone was looking at Dumbledore's pain expression and was dying to know what had happened but nobody dared to ask.

"**Muriel!" exclaimed Doge.**

**A chill that had nothing to do with the iced champagne was stealing through Sophia's chest.**

"**What do you mean?" she asked Muriel. "Who said his sister was a Squib? I thought she was ill?"**

"**Thought wrong, then, didn't you, Samantha!" said Auntie Muriel, looking delighted at the effect she had produced. "Anyway, how could you expect to know anything about it! It all happened years and years before you were even thought of, my dear and the truth is that those of us who were alive then never knew what really happened. That's why I can't wait to find out what Skeeter's unearthed! Dumbledore kept that sister of his quiet for a long time!"**

"**Untrue!" wheezed Doge, "Absolutely untrue!"**

"**He never told me his sister as a Squib," said Sophia, without thinking, still cold inside.**

"Ariana was not a Squib," Dumbledore said softly, his voice weak with the guilt he was feeling.

"I'm sorry sir," Sophia said looking down, she could see the pain in Dumbledore's eyes and it was clear to her why the older man never brought this up, he was obviously hurt by the subject... and how wouldn't he be?

"**And why on earth would he tell you?" screeched Muriel, swaying a little in her seat as she attempted to focus upon Sophia.**

"**The reason Albus never spoke about Ariana," began Elphias in a voice stiff with emotion, "is, I should have thought, quite clear. He was so devastated by her death –"**

"**Why did nobody ever see her, Elphias?" squawked Muriel, "Why did half of us never even know she existed, until they carried the coffin out of the house and held a funeral for her? Where was saintly Albus while Ariana was locked in the cellar? Off being brilliant at Hogwarts, and never mind what was going on in his own house!"**

Dumbledore flinched at these words and people were starting to wonder if they were true... or at least what part of them were true. For it was clear that there was something to this story that affected Dumbledore.

"**What d'you mean, locked in the cellar?" asked Sophia. "What is this?"**

**Doge looked wretched. Auntie Muriel cackled again and answered Sophia.**

"**Dumbledore's mother was a terrifying woman, simply terrifying. Muggle-born, though I heard she pretended otherwise-"**

"She was not Muggle-born, and if she was she wouldn't have pretended differently," Dumbledore said automatically, still trying to maintain his calm demeanor.

"**She never pretended anything of the sort! Kendra was a fine woman," whispered Doge miserably, but Auntie Muriel ignored him.**

"**- proud and very domineering, the sort of witch who would have been mortified to produce a Squib-"**

"**Ariana was not a Squib!" wheezed Doge.**

"**So you say, Elphias, but explain, then, why she never attended Hogwarts!" said Auntie Muriel. She turned back to Sophia. "In our day, Squibs were often hushed up, thought to take it to the extreme of actually imprisoning a little girl in the house and pretending she didn't exist –"**

"**I tell you, that's not what happened!" said Doge, but Auntie Muriel steamrollered on, still addressing Sophia.**

"**Squibs were usually shipped off to Muggle schools and encouraged to integrate into the Muggle****community… much kinder than trying to find them a place in the Wizarding world, where they must always be second class, but naturally Kendra Dumbledore wouldn't have dreamed of letting her daughter go to a Muggle school –"**

"**Ariana was delicate!" said Doge desperately. "Her health was always too poor to permit her –"**

"**- to permit her to leave the house?" cackled Muriel. "And yet she was never taken to St. Mungo's and no Healer was ever summoned to see her!"**

"Because if she was taken to a Healer she would have been taken away from us," Dumbledore said, he could feel everyone look at him. It hurt to say this, but he didn't want everyone in here to believe this story... believe that his mother was so cold as to do something like this. "My mother could not bear to be separated from her daughter like that..."

Remus opened his mouth to ask what was wrong with Ariana, but he still couldn't bring himself to do that with the way that Dumbledore looked right now.

"**Really, Muriel, how can you possibly know whether –"**

"**For your information, Elphias, my cousin Lancelot was a Healer at St. Mungo's at the time, and he told my family in strictest confidence that Ariana had never been seen there. All most suspicious, Lancelot thought!"**

**Doge looked to be on the verge of tears. Auntie Muriel, who seemed to be enjoying herself hugely, snapped her fingers for more champagne. Numbly Sophia thought of how the Dursleys had once shut him up, locked her away, kept her out of sight, all for the crime of being a wizard. Had Dumbledore's sister suffered the same fate in reverse: imprisoned for her lack of magic?**

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't know why I'm thinking that," Sophia said softly when she saw her headmaster bow his head.

"It's a reasonable thought after what you heard," Dumbledore said in an uneven tone, "but I assure you that this is definitely not the case."

**And had Dumbledore truly left her to her fate while he went off to Hogwarts to prove himself brilliant and talented?**

"**Now, if Kendra hadn't died first," Muriel resumed, "I'd have said that it was she who finished off Ariana –"**

Dumbledore eyes showed a hint of anger at that before the sadness consumed them again as he thought of what had really happened there.

"**How can you, Muriel!" groaned Doge. "A mother kill her own daughter? Think what you're saying!"**

"**If the mother in question was capable of imprisoning her daughter for years on end, why not?" shrugged Auntie Muriel. "But as I say, it doesn't fit, because Kendra died before Ariana – of what, nobody ever seemed sure-"**

"**Yes, Ariana might have made a desperate bid for freedom and killed Kendra in the struggle," said Auntie Muriel thoughtfully.**

Dumbledore flinched internally at that knowing it was very close to the truth.

"**Shake your head all you like, Elphias. You were at Ariana's funeral, were you not?"**

"**Yes I was," said Doge, through trembling lips," and a more desperately sad occasion I cannot remember. Albus was heartbroken-"**

"**His heart wasn't the only thing. Didn't Aberforth break Albus' nose halfway through the service?"**

**If Doge had looked horrified before this, it was nothing to how he looked now. Muriel might have stabbed him. She cackled loudly and took another swig of champagne, which dribbled down her chin.**

"**How do you -?" croaked Doge.**

"**My mother was friendly with old Bathilda Bagshot," said Auntie Muriel happily. "Bathilda described the whole thing to mother while I was listening at the door. A coffin-side brawl. The way Bathilda told it, Aberforth shouted that it was all Albus' fault that Ariana was dead and then punched him in the face. According to Bathilda, Albus did not even defend himself, and that's odd enough in itself. Albus could have destroyed Aberforth in a duel with both hands tied behind his back."**

"Well of course Albus wouldn't have wanted to destroy his brother after everything that had happened," McGonagall snapped impatiently, drawling some of the attention off of Dumbledore, who was looking more grim every second this chapter continued.

**Muriel swigged yet more champagne. The recitation of those old scandals seemed to elate her as much as they horrified Doge. Sophia did not know what to think, what to believe. She wanted the truth and yet all Doge did was sit there and bleat feebly that Ariana had been ill. Sophia could hardly believe that Dumbledore would not have intervened if such cruelty was happening inside her own house, and yet there was undoubtedly something odd about the story.**

"**And I'll tell you something else," Muriel said, hiccupping slightly as she lowered her goblet. "I think Bathilda has spilled the beans to Rita Skeeter. All those hints in Skeeter's interview about an important source close to the Dumbledore's – goodness knows she was there all through the Ariana business, and it would fit!"**

Dumbledore was really frowning at this, if Bathilda was the source, that book was sure to bring back more painful memories... he hoped it wasn't in this book, but somehow with Sophia as determined as he seemed to be, he seriously doubted that.

"**Bathilda, would never talk to Rita Skeeter!" whispered Doge.**

"**Bathilda Bagshot?" Sophia said. "The author of A History of Magic?"**

"You actually know the author's name!" Hermione and Ron said at the same time with completely different tones. Hermione was pleasantly surprised and Ron was disgusted. Sophia just shrugged at that.

**The name was printed on the front of one of Sophia's textbooks, though admittedly not one of the ones she had read more attentively.**

"**Yes," said Doge, clutching at Sophia's question like a drowning man at a life heir. "A most gifted****magical historian and an old friend of Albus'."**

"**Quite gaga these days, I've heard," said Auntie Muriel cheerfully.**

"**If that is so, it is even more dishonorable for Skeeter to have taken advantage of her," said Doge, "and no reliance can be placed on anything Bathilda may have said!"**

"Yeah, but when has that cow ever let something like dishonorable actions stop her before," Hermione said scornfully.

"**Oh, there are ways of bringing back memories, and I'm sure Rita Skeeter knows them all," said Auntie Muriel "But even if Bathilda's completely cuckoo, I'm sure she'd still have old photographs, maybe even letters. She knew the Dumbledore's for years…. Well worth a trip to Godric's Hollow, I'd have thought."**

"Godric's Hollow?" Sophia said and looked at Dumbledore curiously.

"I used to live there a long time ago," Dumbledore said, his tone grave. Sophia didn't think of asking him any more about it. Clearly the place didn't hold any good memories for Dumbledore.

**Sophia, who had been taking a sip of butterbeer, choked. Doge banged her on the back as Sophia coughed, looking at Auntie Muriel through streaming eyes. Once she had control of her voice again, she asked, "Bathilda Bagshot lives in Godric's Hollow?"**

"**Oh yes, she's been there forever! The Dumbledore's moved there after Percival was imprisoned, and she was their neighbor."**

"**The Dumbledore's lived in Godric's Hollows?"**

"**Yes, Samantha, that's what I just said," said Auntie Muriel testily.**

**Sophia felt drained, empty. Never once, in six years, had Dumbledore told Sophia that they had both lived and lost loved ones in Godric's Hollow. Why? Were Lily and James, her own parent, buried close to Dumbledore's mother and sister?**

"Yes, they are," Dumbledore said sadly, "I'm sorry I've never told you this..."

"It's okay sir, I know this couldn't have been easy to bring up," Sophia said.

**Had Dumbledore visited their graves, perhaps walked past her mom and dad's to do so? And he had never once told Sophia … never bothered to say…**

**And why it was so important, Sophia could not explain even to himself, yet she felt it had been tantamount to a lie not to tell her that they had this place and these experiences in common. She stared ahead of him, barely noticing what was going on around her, and did not realize that Hermione had appeared out of the crowd until she drew up a chair beside her.**

"**I simply can't dance anymore," she panted, slipping of one of her shoes and rubbing the sole of her foot.**

"Aw, has little Ronnie tired you out already," Fred chuckled, trying to lighten the mood in the somber room.

"**Ron's gone looking to find more butterbeers. It's a bit odd. I've just seen Viktor storming away****from Luna's father, it looked like they'd been arguing –" She dropped her voice, staring at him. "Soph, are you okay?"**

**Sophia did not know where to begin, but it did not matter, at that moment, something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then the Patronus's mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shackelbot.**

"**The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."**

"NO! No, no, no..!" Molly screamed and kept chanting.

"That is the end of the chapter," Fleur said in a shaky voice. This definitely wasn't something she wanted on her wedding day, but she was too scared for everyone's safety to worry about that now.

"I'll read," Bill said taking the book from her. He didn't wait for anyone else to make a comment before he started reading the next chapter.

* * *

The nickname that George calls Sophia is pronounced like Fia. And he's the only one who calls her that. Everyone else calls her Soph as a nickname.


	9. Chapter 9: A Place to Hide

**Disclaimer: Nope. Don't Own It. **

* * *

**"****A Place to Hide," **Bill read.

The mood in the room relaxed slightly at that. They we all hoping that this meant that everything would be okay if Sophia was trying to find a place to hide. That had to be good right?

**Everything seemed fuzzy, slow. Sophia and Hermione jumped to their feet and drew their wands. Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished. Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed.**

"And chaos ensued," Draco said, not in his usual taunting tone though, he was looking almost as worried as most of the people in the room.

**Sophia and Hermione threw themselves into the panicking crowd. Guests were sprinting in all directions; many were Disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.**

"That quickly!" Molly gasped.

"We're not sure how much time has passed since this happened," Remus said, also looking pale. "We don't know how long it took for Kingsley to learn about this... nor how long it took him to try and contact us."

Molly looked as she hadn't even heard him and she bit her lip nervously. Arthur had his arms around her, trying to calm her down, though he didn't look very calm at the moment either.

**"****Ron!" Hermione cried. "Ron, where are you?"**

Hermione moaned miserably at that; how could she have let Ron out of her sight for a moment? Didn't she know how dangerous the times where? She felt Ron's hand take hers and she couldn't stop her heart from beating excitedly at his touch, but she pushed that feeling aside as she squeezed his hand... it was more important that she was reassured right now.

**As they pushed their way across the dance floor, Sophia saw cloaked and masked figures appearing in the crowd;**

Molly's whimper was the loudest, though she was by no means the only one to make a noise at that.

**then she saw Remus and Sirius, their wands raised, and heard both of them shout, "Protego!", a cry that was echoed on all sides –**

"Good," several people said.

**"****Ron! Ron!" Hermione called,**

Both Hermione and Molly shivered at that. Ron gave Hermione's hand another squeeze of reassurance.

**half sobbing as she and Sophia were buffered by terrified guests: Sophhia seized her hand to make sure they weren't separated**

"Smart move... grabbing her hand," Tonks said, she would have added that it wouldn't be good if they got more separated than they already were, but that wasn't the best thing to say right now.

**as a streak of light whizzed over their heads, whether a protective charm or something more sinister she did not know –**

More moans and whimpers rang in the room after that.

**And then Ron was there.**

"Oh thank Merlin," Hermione said quickly but Ron and Sophia could hear her.

**He caught hold of Hermione's free arm, and Sophia felt her turn on the spot;**

"You Apparated!" Arthur said, looking a little pale.

"Er... it looks like it," Hermione said looking at him confused. "I'm sure I got my lic..."

"You brought both of them as side-alongs!" Arthur went on and several people said 'oh'.

"So..." Hermione said still confused, she had read a little bit on Apparation but she still didn't understand why Arthur would be this surprised about that.

"It's very difficult to bring a single person along when Apparating," Percy said, looking at Hermione impressed but not surprised, though perhaps a little jealous. "The concentration needed to Apparate increases exponentially with each person you add to it. It's impressive that you could manage to do it with two people, especially when you probably learned how to Apparate only a few months prior to this."

"Oh," Hermione said, the smile she always had when she was complimented but tried not to look too smug about it on her face.

**sight and sound were extinguished as darkness pressed in upon her; all she could feel was Hermione's hand as she was squeezed through space and time, away from the Burrow, away from the descending Death Eaters, away, perhaps, from Voldemort himself. . . .**

Everyone shivered at that.

"Hm... I'm not sure he would make a personal appearance," Dumbledore said. "He seems to have his mind occupied on something else at the moment and he wouldn't want to be bothered with the lesser hunt. Though I would assume he would come immediately if they had seen Sophia."

Again, the tension in the room relaxed only slightly at that.

**"****Where are we?" said Ron's voice.**

**Sophia opened her eyes. For a moment he thought they had not left the wedding after all;**** They still seemed to be surrounded by people.**

"You Apparated in the middle of a public place!" Snape was the one to say this time, shaking his head. "Didn't you realize that you could have been seen? That would bring yourself to the Ministry's attention if a Muggle had seen you! They would have to send in Obliviators."

"I..." Hermione opened her mouth to say something but she couldn't think of anything. After all she hadn't actually done this yet so she didn't have any answers to that.

**"****Tottenham Court Road," panted Hermione. "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you to change."**

**Sophia did as she asked. They half walked, half ran up the wide dark street thronged with late-night revelers and lined with closed shops, stars twinkling above them. A double-decker bus rumbled by and a group of merry pub-goers ogled them as they passed; Ron was still wearing dress robes.**

"Bad, that's definitely bad!" Sirius said, "You're sticking out too much!"

**"****Hermione, we haven't got anything to change into," Ron told her, as a young woman burst into raucous giggles at the sight of him.**

"Well, there's nothing abnormal there," Fred said attempting to bring some humor into this.

"Ron always inspires people to laugh," George added.

**"****Why didn't I make sure I had the Invisibility Cloak with me?"**

"Oh dear, you didn't have time to take anything with you!" Molly groaned. "You don't have anything but the clothes on your backs! You're going to starve...!"

"Shhh... Molly," Arthur said, cutting off her fretting. She didn't say anything after that but she did bury her head in his shoulder and started to sob.

**said Sophia, inwardly cursing her own stupidity. "All last year I kept it on me and –"**

"Why would I do that?" Sophia mused briefly, but it really wasn't that important at the moment.

**"****It's okay, I've got the Cloak, I've got clothes for both of you," said Hermione,**

"See dear, Hermione is taking care of them," Arthur whispered to his wife and her sobs softened slightly. She didn't want to think about the three of them trying to take care of themselves on their own, but it was comforting that at least she could count on Hermione to think of things they would need.

**"****Just try and act naturally until – this will do."**

**She led them down a side street, then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway.**

**"****When you say you've got the Cloak and clothes . . ." said Sophia, frowning at Hermione, who was carrying nothing except her small beaded handbag, in which she was now rummaging.**

A few eyebrows rose at that but no one said anything.

**"****Yes, they're here," said Hermione, and to Sophia and Ron's utter astonishment, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, some maroon socks, and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak.**

"Wow, an Extension Charm," Fleur said. She looked at Hermione, very impressed. She didn't know the girl very well after all, but she knew that she was only in fifth year, of course she would have been going into her seven year in the book, but it was still impressive. "I don't believe that is even taught at Hogwarts... I know they don't teach it at Beauxbatons."

"I must have realized that we would need it," Hermione shrugged, the 'trying not to be smug' smile back on her face.

"Yeah, we get it, Mione is incredible in everything, can we move on," Ron groaned, though he didn't really look too annoyed with the conversation.

**"****How the ruddy hell –?"**

**"****Undetectable Extension Charm," said Hermione. "Tricky, but I think I've done it okay; anyway, I managed to fit everything we need in here." She gave the fragile-looking bag a little shake and it echoed like a cargo hold as a number of heavy objects rolled around inside it. "Oh, damn, that'll be the books," she said, peering into it, "and I had them all stacked by subject. . . .**

The twins, Ron, Ginny, Sophia, and Sirius all sniggered at that.

**Oh well. . . . Sophia, you'd better take the Invisibility Cloak. Ron, hurry up and change. . . ."**

**"****When did you do all this?" Sophia asked as Ron stripped off his robes.**

"I bet you couldn't take your eyes off of him, ah Hermione," Fred teased and Hermione and Ron turned bright red.

Hermione opened her mouth to defend herself but realized she couldn't, not without being laughed at more than what was going on now.

**"****I told you at the Burrow, I've had the essentials packed for days, you know, in case we needed to make a quick getaway. I packed your rucksack this morning, Sophia, after you changed, and put it in here. . . . I just had a feeling. . . ."**

"You had a feeling this would happen!" Molly said, looking almost angry about that, like she was saying, why didn't you warn me about this?

"Mum, Mione just likes to be prepared for everything... well in advance, too," Ron said.

"And it seems like that was a very good thing this time," Sophia added.

Molly nodded, feeling ashamed, but she was just so worried about not only the trio's safety, but everyone's. Everyone was in danger in this book, she knew that.

**"****You're amazing, you are," said Ron, handing her his bundled-up robes.**

**"****Thank you," said Hermione, managing a small smile as she pushed the robes into the bag. "Please, Sophia, get that Cloak on!"**

"Honestly Potter, don't you realized how recognizable you are?" Draco said.

"Are you worried about me Malfoy?" Sophia said, looking bemused and starting to chuckle at the disgusted face Draco was making now.

"As if," Draco scoffed, though he had an odd feeling that Sophia wasn't so wrong by her question, which only made him angrier at himself. "I just thought someone should point out how slow you are."

**Sophia threw his Invisibility Cloak around her shoulders and pulled it up over her**** head, vanishing from sight. She was only just beginning to appreciate what had happened.**

**"****The others – everybody at the wedding –"**

**"****We can't worry about that now," whispered Hermione. "It's you they're after, Sophia, and we'll just put everyone in even more danger by going back."**

"Very true, so don't worry about us," Arthur said.

"Even with that being true, that's not going to stop me from worrying," Sophia mumbled.

**"****She's right," said Ron, who seemed to know that Sophia was about to argue, even if he could not see her face.**

"Well you really are predictable sometimes," Ron said.

**"****Most of the Order was there, they'll look after everyone."**

**Sophia nodded, then remembered that they could not see her, and said, "Yeah." But she thought of George, and fear bubbled like acid in her stomach.**

"I'm sorry that I'm giving you indigestion Phia," George said sadly and several people laughed at that

"I suppose I can forgive you for that this time," Sophia smiled.

**"****Come on, I think we ought to keep moving," said Hermione.**

**They moved back up the side street and onto the main road again, where a group of men on the opposite side was singing and weaving across the pavement.**

**"****Just as a matter of interest, why Tottenham Court Road?" Ron asked Hermione.**

**"****I've no idea, it just popped into my head, but I'm sure we're safer out in the Muggle world, it's not where they'll expect us to be."**

"That is true," Snape allowed, though he was still upset about them apparently Apparating in a crowded street.

**"****True," said Ron, looking around, "but don't you feel a bit – exposed?"**

**"****Where else is there?" asked Hermione, cringing as the men on the other side of the road started wolf-whistling at her.**

Ron glared at the book, causing his siblings to chuckle.

**"****We can hardly book rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, can we? And Grimmauld Place is out if Snape can get in there. . . . I suppose we could try my parents' home, though I think there's a chance they might check there. . . . Oh, I wish they'd shut up!"**

**"****All right, darling?" the drunkest of the men on the other pavement was yelling. "Fancy a drink? Ditch ginger and come and have a pint!"**

"I'm just glad you're under the cloak," Remus said to Sophia, who just shrugged.

**"Ew," Hermione made a face, as Ron's glared intensified and it looked like he was gritting his teeth trying to stop himself from saying something.**

**"****Let's sit down somewhere," Hermione said hastily as Ron opened his mouth to shout back across the road.**

"Ah... I was hoping that we would have at least got to hear book Ron tell those gits off," Fred sighed, and almost everyone laughed at that. Though it was clear that Ron's brothers were all amused about this, they all felt protective of Hermione at the same time and didn't particularly like how these drunk guys were talking to her... they wouldn't have minded Ron doing something to them.

**"****Look, this will do, in here!"**

**It was a small and shabby all-night café. A light layer of grease lay on all the Formica-topped tables, but it was at least empty. Sophia slipped into a booth first and Ron sat next to her opposite Hermione, who had her back to the entrance and did not like it: She glanced over her shoulder so frequently she appeared to have a twitch. Sophia did not like being stationary; walking had given the illusion that they had a goal.**

"That might be true, but being here might actually give you some time to think about where you should go," Remus said. "And I would feel a lot better if you had some shelter right now."

**Beneath the Cloak she pulled his glasses out of his pocket and put them on again.**

**After a minute or two, Ron said, "You know, we're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here; it's only in Charing Cross –"**

"No!" several people shouted.

"I don't want you anywhere never that place!" Molly said.

"It wouldn't be safe!" Tonks added.

"I get it," Ron groaned, he wasn't really sure why he was suggesting that in the first place. He knew it wouldn't be safe there.

**"****Ron, we can't!" said Hermione at once.**

**"****Not to stay there, but to find out what's going on!"**

**"****We know what's going on! Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, what else do we need to know?"**

**"****Okay, okay, it was just an idea!" They relapsed into a prickly silence. The gum-chewing waitress shuffled over and Hermione ordered two cappuccinos: As Sophia was invisible; it would have looked odd to order him one. A pair of burly workmen entered the café and squeezed into the next booth.**

"I don't like this!" Molly fretted, and several people's thoughts echoed that statement. Why would workman suddenly come in to this Diner and more importantly, why would they be mentioned in this book if here wasn't something odd about them being there.

Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper.

**"****I say we find a quiet place to Disapparate and head for the countryside. Once we're there, we could send a message to the Order."**

**"****Can you do that talking Patronus thing, then?" asked Ron.**

**"****I've been practicing and I think so," said Hermione.**

"Which pretty much means you can do it," Ron and Sophia said at the same time.

"I wonder if this means I can already do the Patronus Charm... you did mention teaching us that when we got back," Hermione said looking at Sophia.

"Well, I'm sure if I get around to teaching it you will pick it up in no time," Sophia smiled at her.

"Are you really going to teach them Patronus?" Remus questioned. "It's a difficult spell Sophia, as I'm sure you remember me telling you that before..."

"I know it's difficult, but I don't think I'll be able to get a Dementor or a Boggart to pretend to be a Dementor, so it will be different than the lessons that you gave me," Sophia said.

**"****Well, as long as it doesn't get them into trouble, though they might've been arrested already. God, that's revolting," Ron added after one sip of the foamy, grayish coffee. The waitress had heard; she shot Ron a nasty look as she shuffled off to take the new customers' orders. The larger of the two workmen, who was blond and quite huge, now that Sophia came to look at him, waved her away. She stared, affronted.**

"Not good, this is not good!" Molly chanted to herself, she didn't like them being mention again, reinforcing her earlier fear.

**"****Let's get going, then, I don't want to drink this muck," said Ron. "Hermione, have you got Muggle money to pay for this?"**

**"****Yes, I took out all my Building Society savings before I came to the Burrow."**

**"****I'm sorry Hermione," Sophia frowned; she didn't like that she had to take all her money out of savings.**

"I'll just ask you to reimburse me after this is all over with," Hermione smiled, and Sophia chuckled.

**I'll bet all the change is at the bottom," sighed Hermione, reaching for her beaded bag.**

**The two workmen made identical movements, and Sophia mirrored them without conscious thought: All three of them drew their wands.**

"NO!" several people yelled, not liking their fears being confirmed. Molly kept the chanting up as Bill read the book in a tense voice.

**Ron, a few seconds late in realizing what was going on, lunged across the table, pushing Hermione sideways onto her bench.**

Ron felt relieved about that though he wished that he wasn't late in reacting. It just felt better knowing that he was doing something to protect Hermione.

**The force of the Death Eaters' spells shattered the tiled wall where Ron's head had just been, as Sophia, still invisible, yelled, "Stupefy!"**

**The great blond Death Eater was hit in the face by a jet of red light: He slumped sideways, unconscious. His companion, unable to see who had cast the spell, fired another at Ron: Shining black ropes flew from his wand-tip and bound Ron head to foot – the waitress screamed and ran for the door – Sophia sent another Stunning Spell at the Death Eater with the twisted face**

Bill read this with disdain for he easily recognized this description as the man that had killed his uncles. Molly's eyes flickered with rage at just hearing this, but her heart throbbed painfully in her chest as she thought of the trio facing this man... this highly dangerous man.

**who had tied up Ron, but the spell missed, rebounded on the window, and hit the waitress, who collapsed in front of the door.**

**"****Expulso!" bellowed the Death Eater, and the table behind which Sophia was standing blew up: The force of the explosion slammed her into the wall and she felt her wand leave her hand as the Cloak slipped off her.**

**"****Petrificus Totalus!" screamed Hermione from out of sight, and the Death Eater fell forward like a statue to land with a crunching thud on the mess of broken china, table, and coffee.**

"I'm glad you got him, but don't you think you should use a stronger spell than that?" Sirius inquired.

"I probably did the first spell that came to my mind," Hermione said. "Speed is more important... besides he's incapacitated now."

**Hermione crawled out from underneath the bench, shaking bits of glass ashtray out of her hair and trembling all over.**

**"****D-diffindo," she said, pointing her wand at Ron, who roared in pain as she slashed open the knee of his jeans, leaving a deep cut. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ron, my hand's shaking! Diffindo!"**

"So you decide to do the spell again!" Ron grumbled and Hermione rolled her eyes.

**The severed ropes fell away. Ron got to his feet, shaking his arms to regain feeling in them. Sophia picked up her wand and climbed over all the debris to where the large blond Death Eater was sprawled across the bench.**

**"****I should've recognized him, he was there the night Dumbledore died," she said. She turned over the darker Death Eater with her foot; the man's eyes moved rapidly between Sophia, Ron and Hermione**.

"Don't talk in front of him!" Sirius said. "He can still hear every word you say."

**"****That's Dolohov," said Ron. "I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one's Thorfinn Rowle."**

**"****Never mind what they're called!" said Hermione a little hysterically. "How did they find us? What are we going to do?"**

"Merlin that is a good question!" Fred said. "How did they find you?"

"Maybe it was like Snape said," Charlie said. "That a Muggle saw them and that caused the Ministry..."

"I'm not so sure about that," Snape himself interrupted. "That doesn't explain how the Death Eaters would know that they were in this cafe. It doesn't make sense that they would go there."

"So what happen?" Sirius asked, looking at his goddaughter warily. "Why the hell did they show up there?"

No one seemed to have an answer to that.

**Somehow her panic seemed to clear Sophia's head.**

"Well, I'm glad I could help," Hermione glared at her halfheartedly, she was too nervous to pull it off correctly.

**"****Lock the door," she told her, "and Ron, turn out the lights."**

**She looked down at the paralyzed Dolohov, thinking fast as the lock clicked and Ron used the Deluminator to plunge the café into darkness. Sophia could hear the men who had jeered at Hermione earlier, yelling at another girl in the distance.**

"Pigs," Ginny muttered.

**"****What are we going to do with them?" Ron whispered to Sophia through the dark; then, even more quietly, "Kill them? They'd kill us. They had a good go just now."**

Ron looked petrified that he had suggested such a thing and Sophia looked at him with the same expression. "I don't think I can do that mate," Sophia said in a shaky voice.

"They deserve it," Molly was the one to say, there was a dark tone in her voice that nobody was used to hearing. Sophia looked at her even more shocked than she already was.

"Dolohov was one of the people responsible for..." Remus started but Sophia remembered an early discussion she had with Moody that year, one with a picture of the old Order of the Phoenix.

"Oh..." Sophia said and looked at Molly with understanding, though she had buried her head back in Arthur's shoulder. No matter how much she wanted this man dead, she didn't really want her son and his friends to become cold blooded killers like this. It was one thing to kill someone in a fight and quite another to kill an unarmed, helpless man.

**Hermione shuddered and took a step backward. Sophia shook her head.**

**"****We just need to wipe their memories," said Sophia. "It's better like that, it'll throw them off the scent. If we killed them it'd be obvious we were here."**

"I don't think you can stop them from knowing that you were here," Snape said warily, though he didn't totally disagree with the plan.

**"****You're the boss," said Ron, sounding profoundly relieved. "But I've never down a Memory Charm."**

**"****Nor have I," said Hermione, "but I know the theory."**

"You do understand that knowing the theory and actually doing the spell are two different things," Snape said harshly. "You can cause serious damage to someone if you perform a spell like this without the proper training."

"Well it's all the better if she give them permanent brain damage," Sirius pointed out.

**She took a deep, calming breath, then pointed her wand at Dolohov's forehead and said, "Obliviate."**

**At once, Dolohov's eyes became unfocused and dreamy.**

"You were saying," Sirius said with a smirk in Snape's direction.

**"****Brilliant!" said Sophia, patting her on the back. "Take care of the other one and the waitress while Ron and I clear up."**

**"****Clear up?" said Ron, looking around at the partly destroyed café. "Why?"**

"Why can't you ever just clear things up when you're told to," Ginny said in a very good impression of her mum that had all the Weasley boys and various other people laughing.

**"****Don't you think they might wonder what's happened if they wake up and find themselves in a place that looks like it's just been bombed?"**

**"****Oh right, yeah . . ."**

**Ron struggled for a moment before managing to extract his wand from his pocket.**

**"****It's no wonder I can't get it out, Hermione, you packed my old jeans, they're tight."**

"How dare you do that Hermione," Fred said laughing.

"Yeah, just because the tight jeans would make his a..." George started to say.

"Shut up!" Hermione hissed at them, turning red yet again as several people laughed.

**"****Oh, I'm so sorry," hissed Hermione, and as she dragged the waitress out of sight of the windows, Sophia heard her mutter a suggestion as to where Ron could stick his wand instead.**

There was more laughter at this.

**Once the café was restored to its previous condition, they heaved the Death Eaters back into their booth and propped them up facing each other. "But how did they find us?" Hermione asked, looking from one inert man to the other. "How did they know where we were?"**

**She turned to Sophia.**

**"****You – you don't think you've still got your Trace on you, do you, Sophia?"**

"No, that's impossible," several people said at the same time.

"There is no way to keep the Trace on someone once they come of age," Arthur said.

"They could have put a different tracking spell on her though," Tonks said. "Of course that means they would have had to have access to him so I don't think that's it either."

**"****He can't have," said Ron. "The Trace breaks at seventeen, that's Wizarding Law; you can't put it on an adult."**

**"****As far as you know," said Hermione. "What if the Death Eaters have found a way to put it on a seventeen-year-old?"**

**"****But Sophia hasn't been near a Death Eater in the last twenty-four hours. Who's supposed to have put a Trace back on him?"**

**Hermione did not reply. Sophia felt contaminated, tainted:**

"Sorry Sophia... I didn't mean to make you feel that way," Hermione said.

**Was that really how the Death Eaters had found them?**

**"****If I can't use magic, and you can't use magic near me, without us giving away our position –" she began.**

"Argh!" several groaned and then glared at Sophia.

**"****We're not splitting up!" said Hermione firmly.**

**"****We need a safe place to hide," said Ron. "Give us time to think things through."**

**"****Grimmauld Place," said Sophia.**

**The other two gaped.**

**"****Don't be silly, Sophia, Snape can get in there!"**

"But I don't think that other Death Eaters could," Remus said. "Which means that only one..."

"I'm not going to attack Potter," Snape said coldly.

"And I understand that, but the Sophia in the book doesn't and from his point of view limiting the number of people that can go after him to one is a good thing," Remus said. "Especially since there is only one way that you can enter the place."

"Ron's dad said they've put up jinxes against him – and even if they haven'tworked," he pressed on as Hermione began to argue "so what? I swear, I'd like nothing better than to meet Snape!"

"I wouldn't be so eager for that if I were you," Draco said, "I doubt that you would last a minute again Professor Snape."

Snape looked slightly pleased by this praise.

"I've faced worse opponents than Snape," Sophia said, her eyes going a little lifeless as she thought of the duel she had last summer.

"Hm..." was all Draco had to say to that but he was eyeing Sophia almost warily now.

**"****But –"**

**"****Hermione, where else is there? It's the best chance we've got. Snape's only one Death Eater. If I've still got the Trace on me, we'll have whole crowds of them on us wherever else we go."**

**She could not argue, though she looked as if she would have liked to. While she unlocked the café door, Ron clicked the Deluminator to release the café's light. Then, on Sophia's count of three, they reversed the spells upon their three victims, and before the waitress or either of the Death Eaters could do more than stir sleepily, Sophia, Ron and Hermione had turned on the spot and vanished into the compressing darkness once more.**

**Seconds later Sophia's lungs expanded gratefully and she opened her eyes: They were now standing in the middle of a familiar small and shabby square. Tall, dilapidated houses looked down on them from every side. Number twelve was visible to them, for they had been told of its existence by Dumbledore, its Secret-Keeper, and they rushed toward it, checking every few yards that they were not being followed or observed. They raced up the stone steps, and Sophia tapped the front door once with her wand. They heard a series of metallic clicks and the clatter of a chain, then the door swung open with a creak and they hurried over the threshold.**

**As Sophia closed the door behind them, the old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life, casting flickering light along the length of the hallway. It looked just as Sophia remembered it: eerie, cobwebbed, the outlines of the house-elf heads on the wall throwing odd shadows up the staircase. Long dark curtains concealed the portrait of Sirius' mother. The only thing that was out of place was the troll's leg umbrella stand, which was lying on its side as if Tonks had just knocked it over again.**

Several of the people that had seen Tonks trip over that multiple times snorted at that.

"How do you know someone isn't there already?" Molly questioned, making everyone nervous again just like she had been this whole chapter.

**"****I think somebody's been in here," Hermione whispered, pointing toward it.**

**"****That could've happened as the Order left," Ron murmured back.**

**"****So where are these jinxes they put up against Snape?" Sophia asked.**

**"****Maybe they're only activated if he shows up?" suggested Ron.**

**Yet they remained close together on the doormat, backs against the door, scared to move farther into the house.**

"Little Potty, scared of a house," Draco sneered.

"Be quiet little boy, don't you see how dangerous everything is... anything can go wrong, nowhere is safe!" Molly said, starting to work herself into hysteria. However, she seemed to be unable to say anything more than that, but her eyes still looked at Draco with a crazed expression.

**"Well, we can't stay here forever," said Sophia, and she took a step forward.**

**"****Severus Snape?"**

**Mad-Eye Moody's voice whispered out of the darkness, making all three of them jump back in fright. "We're not Snape!" croaked Sophia, before something whooshed over her like cold air and her tongue curled backward on itself, making it impossible to speak. Before she had time to feel inside her mouth, however, her tongue had unraveled again.**

**The other two seemed to have experienced the same unpleasant sensation. Ron was making retching noises; Hermione stammered, "That m-must have b-been the T-Tongue-Tying Curse Mad-Eye set up for Snape!"**

**Gingerly Sophia took another step forward. Something shifted in the shadows at the end of the hall, and before any of them could say another word, a figure had risen up out of the carpet, tall, dust-colored, and terrible; Hermione screamed and so did Mrs. Black, her curtains flying open; the gray figure was gliding toward them, faster and faster, its waist-length hair and beard streaming behind it, its face sunken, fleshless, with empty eye sockets: Horribly familiar, dreadfully altered, it raised a wasted arm, pointing at Sophia.**

"Okay that does sound creepy," Fred said shivering a little as he looked over to Dumbledore, who seemed to be oblivious to all the glances he was receiving.

**"****No!" Sophia shouted, and though she had raised her wand no spell occurred to her. "No! It wasn't us! We didn't kill you –"**

**On the word kill, the figure exploded in a great cloud of dust:**

"That must have been the key word that Alastor chose to break the spell," Dumbledore said as the rest of the room looked at him uncomfortably.

**Coughing, his eyes watering, Sophia looked around to see Hermione crouched on the floor by the door with her arms over her head, and Ron, who was shaking from head to foot, patting her clumsily on the shoulder and saying, "It's all r-right. . . . It's g-gone. . . ."**

"Why are you so afraid of a chalk, ghost-like figure?" Draco said. "What could it have done to you?"

"Knowing Mad-Eye, plenty," Tonks said.

**Dust swirled around Harry like mist, catching the blue gaslight, as Mrs. Black continued to scream.**

**"****Mudbloods, filth, stains of dishonor, taint of shame on the house of my fathers –"**

"Argh," Sirius groaned, he would rather not hear that... a reminder of what he's going to have to go back to after they finish reading this book.

**"****SHUT UP!" Sophia bellowed, directing her wand at her, and with a bang and a burst of red sparks, the curtains swung shut again, silencing her.**

"On one try. That's impressive Prongslet," Sirius said, looking at his goddaughter in awe..

**"****That . . . that was . . ." Hermione whimpered, as Ron helped her to her feet.**

**"****Yeah," said Sophia, "but it wasn't really him, was it? Just something to scare Snape."**

Snape frowned at that... seeing something like that wouldn't scare him and he agreed with Tonks, there must have been more to the charm than that.

**Had it worked, Sophia wondered, or had Snape already blasted the horror-figure aside as casually as he had killed the real Dumbledore? Nerves still tingling, she led the other two up the hall, half-expecting some new terror to reveal itself, but nothing moved except for a mouse skittering along the skirting board.**

**"****Before we go any farther, I think we'd better check," whispered Hermione, and she raised her wand and said, "Homenum revelio."**

**Nothing happened.**

"Oh thank Merlin, good thinking," Molly said, sounding very relieved.

**"****Well, you've just had a big shock," said Ron kindly. "What was that supposed to do?"**

Several people chuckled at that.

"What?" Ron questioned.

"It worked exactly how it was supposed to," Bill told his little brother and Ron sighed, Hermione wouldn't like that he suggested that she couldn't do a spell properly.

**"****It did what I meant it to do!" said Hermione rather crossly. "That was a spell to reveal human presence, and there's nobody here except us!"**

**"****And old Dusty," said Ron, glancing at the patch of carpet from which the corpse-figure had risen.**

**"****Let's go up," said Hermione with a frightened look at the same spot, and she led the way up the creaking stairs to the drawing room on the first floor.**

**Hermione waved her wand to ignite the old gas lamps, then, shivering slightly in the drafty room, she perched on the sofa, her arms wrapped tightly around her. Ron crossed to the window and moved the heavy velvet curtains aside an inch.**

**"****Can't see anyone out there," he reported. "And you'd think, if Sophia still had a Trace on her, they'd have followed us here. I know they can't get in the house,**

"That's true," Tonks said, "so they definitely don't have a trace on you."

"Well that's comforting and all, but it still leaves us wondering how the hell those Death Eaters found Harry in the first place," Charlie said.

**but – what's up, Sophia?"**

**Sophia had given a cry of pain: Her scar had burned against as something flashed across her mind like a bright light on water. She saw a large shadow and felt a fury that was not her own pound through her body, violent and brief as an electric shock.**

**"****What did you see?" Ron asked, advancing on Sophia. "Did you see him at my place?"**

"Oh Ron... don't say that!" Molly moaned and the rest of the Weasleys shivered at that.

**"****No, I just felt anger – he's really angry –"**

**"****But that could be at the Burrow," said Ron loudly. "What else? Didn't you see anything? Was he cursing someone?"**

"Will you stop saying things like that?" Ginny shuddered.

"Sorry," Ron said, looking pale.

**"****No, I just felt anger – I couldn't tell –"**

**Sophia felt badgered, confused, and Hermione did not help as she said in a frightened voice, "Your scar, again? But what's going on? I thought that connection had closed!"**

"Sorry," Hermione said to Sophia, who just shrugged.

"I know you're just worried," Sophia said, "both of you are."

**"****It did, for a while," muttered Sophia; her scar was still painful, which made it hard to concentrate. "I – I think it's started opening again whenever he loses control, that's how it used to** –"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow here; it certainly does sound like Voldemort is trying to block Sophia from his mind this time.

**"****But then you've got to close your mind!" said Hermione shrilly. "Sophia, Dumbledore didn't want you to use that connection, he wanted you to shut it down, that's why you were supposed to use Occlumency! Otherwise Voldemort can plant false images in your mind, remember –"**

**"Yeah, I do remember, thanks," said Sophia through gritted teeth; **

**She wished that she had not told them what she had seen and felt; it made Voldemort more threatening, as though he were pressing against the window of the room, and still the pain in his scar was building and she fought it: It was like resisting the urge to be sick.**

**She turned her back on Ron and Hermione, pretending to examine the old tapestry**** of the Black family tree on the wall.**

"As if we wouldn't know what you were doing," Hermione mumbled, rolling her eyes.

**Then Hermione shrieked: Sophia drew her wand again and spun around to see a silver Patronus soar through the drawing room window and land upon the floor in front of them, where it solidified into the weasel that spoke with the voice of Ron's father.**

**"****Family safe, do not reply, we are being watched."**

"We're safe," Molly said, relieved and slumping in Arthur's arms. Though she could have done without the, _we are being watched_, line, it was the best she could hope for at the moment.

**The Patronus dissolved into nothingness. Ron let out a noise between a whimper and a groan and dropped onto the sofa: Hermione joined him, gripping his arm.**

**"****They're all right, they're all right!" she whispered, and Ron half laughed and hugged her.**

**"****Sophia," he said over Hermione's shoulder, "I –"**

**"****It's not a problem," said Sophia, sickened by the pain in her head. "It's your family, 'course you were worried. I'd feel the same way." She thought of George. "I do feel the same way."**

"Hmph, so does that mean that you don't care about the rest of us?" Fred said indignantly.

"Yep," Sophia in deadpan.

**The pain in her scar was reaching a peak, burning as it had back in the garden of the Burrow. Faintly she heard Hermione say "I don't want to be on my own. Could we use the sleeping bags I've brought and camp in here tonight?"**

**She heard Ron agree. She could not fight the pain much longer. She had to succumb.**

**"****Bathroom," she muttered, and she left the room as fast as she could without running**.

**She barely made it: Bolting the door behind her with trembling hands, she grasped her pounding head and fell to the floor, then in an explosion of agony, she felt the rage that did not belong to her possess her soul,**

Sophia and several others shivered at the description.

**saw a long room lit only by firelight, and the giant blond Death Eater on the floor, screaming and writhing, and a slighter figure standing over him, wand**** outstretched, while Sophia spoke in a high, cold, merciless voice.**

**"****More, Rowle, or shall we end it and feed you to Nagini? Lord Voldemort is not sure that he will forgive this time. . . . You called me back for this, to tell me that Sophia Potter has escaped again? Draco, give Rowle another taste of our displeasure. . . .**

All eyes were on said boy, who was looking rather pale at the idea of not only being in the same room as Voldemort but torturing someone. He never minded taunting someone... torturing them with his words until they snapped (though he didn't like them snapping so much because usually he would end up hurt then). He didn't mind cursing anyone either, but he's never used a serious curse on anyone yet. Nothing that would hurt like he knew that Voldemort wanted him to do to this Rowle guy. His stomach turned and he knew that he didn't really want to do something like this... Not to this guy and... he couldn't even imagining doing something like that to Potter, who he truly hated more than anyone else.

**"Do it, or feel my wrath yourself!"**

**A log fell in the fire: Flames reared, their light darting across a terrified, pointed white face – with a sense of emerging from deep water, Sophia drew heaving breaths and opened her eyes.**

**She was spread-eagled on the cold black marble floor, his nose inches from one of the silver serpent tails that supported the large bathtub. She sat up. Malfoy's gaunt, petrified face seemed burned on the inside of her eyes. Sophia felt sickened by what she had seen, by the use to which Draco was now being put by Voldemort.**

Draco looked down, again lost in thought. He wanted that didn't he? To be a Death Eater like his dad. To earn respect from people like Voldemort... like his dad. That is what he always wanted. But hearing this, seeing what he would have to do to be a real Death Eater made him feel ill at ease.

**There was a sharp rap on the door, and Sophia jumped as Hermione's voice rang out.**

**"****Soph, do you want your toothbrush? I've got it here."**

**"****Yeah, great, thanks," she said, fighting to keep her voice casual as she stood up to let her in.**

"That was the end of the chapter," Bill said. "Who wants to read?"

"I think I will," Ron said.

"No... say it ain't so!" Fred said.

"Ronniekins wanting to read," George gasped.

Ron ignored them the best he could as he started to read the next chapter.


	10. Chapter 10: Kreacher's Tale

**Disclaimer: Don't Own It.**

* * *

"**Kreacher's Tale,"**Ron read and then groaned. "Maybe I don't want to read this one."

Hermione rolled her eyes at that.

"Argh! Why would there be a chapter about that thing in here?" Sirius grumbled.

"Sirius..." Hermione started to say, unable to stop herself this time.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Ron just read."

**Sophia woke early next morning, wrapped in a sleeping bag on the drawing room floor. A chink of sky was visible between the heavy curtains. It was the cool, clear blue of watered ink, somewhere between night and dawn, and everything was quiet except for Ron and Hermione's slow, deep breathing. Sophia glanced over at the dark shapes they made on the floor beside her. Ron had had a fit of gallantry and insisted that Hermione sleep on the cushions from the sofa, so that her silhouette was raised above his.**

"Nice move Ronnie boy," Charlie chuckled, "you're such a gentleman."

"Shut up," Ron hissed at his brothers, for they were all sniggering (even Percy was trying to stop himself from smiling), his ears were bright red.

**Her arm curved to the floor, her fingers inches from Ron's. Sophia wondered whether they had fallen asleep holding hands.**

"Aw," all the Weasley children (expect Ron) said.

"Isn't that precious?" Fred added as Ron's whole face turned red and this time Hermione was blushing almost as much as him.

**The idea made her feel slightly lonely as she thought of George and wondering if he was safe or not.**

George smiled and took her hand in his.

**She thought of Fawkes, who had flown off before the wedding and would probably be hiding or had found some friend to take care of him. She looked up at the shadowy ceiling, the cobwebbed chandelier. Less than twenty-four house ago, she had been standing in the sunlight at the entrance to the marquee, waiting to show in wedding guests. It seemed a lifetime away. What was going to happen now? She lay on the floor and she thought of the Horcruxes, of the daunting complex mission Dumbledore had left her… Dumbledore…**

**The grief that had possessed her since Dumbledore's death felt different now. The accusations she had heard from Muriel at the wedding seemed to have nested in her brain like diseased things, infecting her memories of the wizard she had idolized.**

"Sophia," Hermione said, looking slightly disappointed; how could Sophia believe that tripe?

Sophia, however wasn't paying attention to her, she was looking at Dumbledore. It was awkward hearing herself think like that though even at the moment she was angry at Dumbledore for ignoring her this year she couldn't image himself thinking that. "I'm sorry, sir," she said.

Dumbledore nodded at Sophia, excepting the apology but looking uncomfortable, his eyes downcast. He was sure that the way things were going, this situation, his past, was only going to get worse.

**Could Dumbledore have let such things happen? Had he been like Dudley, content to watch neglect and abuse as long as it did not affect him? Could he have turned his back on a sister who was being imprisoned and hidden?**

Dumbledore was frowning at everything that was said here, he didn't do any of those things, and yet he felt as if he had done worse to her. There really wasn't anything he could have done for his sister when he was younger, but the biggest regret of his life was that he didn't do more for her when he had the chance.

**Sophia thought of Godric's Hollow, of graves Dumbledore had never mentioned there; she thought of mysterious objects left without explanation in Dumbledore's will, and resentment swelled in the darkness. Why hadn't Dumbledore told her? Why hadn't he explained? Had Dumbledore actually cared about Sophia at all? Or had Sophia been nothing more than a tool to be polished and honed, but not trusted, never confided in?**

"He doesn't confide in anyone, Potter," Snape said, though his tone had everyone looking at him oddly. Was he actually being civil towards Sophia, and when he could have accused Sophia of being arrogant?

"And I assure you Sophia, I do care about you," Dumbledore said.

**Sophia could not stand lying there with nothing but bitter thoughts for company. Desperate for something to do, for distraction, she slipped out of her sleeping bad, picked up her wand, and crept out of the room. On the landing she whispered, "**_**Lumos," **_**and started to climb the stairs by wandlight.**

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked Sophia harshly, which caused Sophia to stare at her questioningly.

"I'm going..." Sophia started to say.

"You can't just wonder off by yourself," Hermione said, "don't you know how worried Ron and I are going to be when we wake up and find you're not there... after everything that happened yesterday..."

"I'm sorry," Sophia said, "I must not have been thinking about that."

**On the second landing was the bedroom in which she, Hermione, and Ginny had slept last time they had been here; she glanced into it. The wardrobe doors stood open and the bedclothes had been ripped back. Sophia remembered the overturned troll leg downstairs. Somebody had searched the house since the Order had left.**

Hermione shivered at that, feeling worse that Sophia was wondering the house on his own.

**Snape? Or perhaps Mundungus, who had pilfered plenty from this house before and after Sirius had left?**

"It was probably him," Sirius said smiling, trying not to show his concerns that it might be something more dangerous.

**Sophia's gaze wandered to the portrait that sometimes contained Phineas Nigellus Black, Sirius' great-great grandfather, but it was empty, showing nothing but a stretch of muddy backdrop. Phineas Nigellus was evidently spending the night in the headmaster's study at Hogwarts.**

**Sophia continued up the stairs until she reached the topmost landing where there were only two doors. The one facing him bore a nameplate reading Sirius. Sophia had never entered her godfather's bedroom before.**

Sophia furrowed her eyebrows wondering why she's never been in Sirius room before. She was also wondering if it was just as bad as the rest of the house, for she had a feeling that Sirius wouldn't have let that be the cause.

**She pushed open the door, holding her wand high to cast light as widely as possible. The room was spacious and must once have been handsome. There was a large bed with a carved wooden headboard, a tall window obscured by long velvet curtains and a chandelier thickly coated in dust with candle scrubs still resting in its sockets, solid wax banging in frostlike drips. A fine film of dust covered the pictures on the walls and the bed's headboard; a spider's web stretched between the chandelier and the top of the large wooden wardrobe,**

Ron shivered at that mumbling something about getting out of there now. The twins sniggered at that and Molly glared at them, she still hated the fact that they had traumatized her youngest son.

**and as Sophia moved deeper into the room, she heard a scurrying of disturbed mice.**

**The teenage Sirius had plastered the walls with so many posters and pictures that little of the wall's silvery-gray silk was visible. Sophia could only assume that Sirius's parents had been unable to remove the Permanent Sticking Charm that kept them on the wall because she was sure they would not have appreciated their eldest son's taste in decoration.**

The amusement in Ron's voice was clear as he read this and the twins eyes twinkle at the show of rebellion. Sirius grinned at all of them.

**Sirius seemed to have long gone out of his way to annoy his parents. There were several large Gryffindor banners, faded scarlet and gold just to underline his difference from all the rest of the Slytherin family.**

"You have no idea how many spells I had to put on those to keep Mum from getting rid of them," Sirius stated proudly. "It took a while to make them hex proof so she couldn't blast them off the wall."

**There were many pictures of Muggle motorcycles,**

Arthur looked up excitedly at this but Molly's glare made him sit back giving her wary glances.

**and also (Sophia for once in her life almost felt disgusted at Sirius) several posters of bikini-clad Muggle girls. **

"Nice," several of the boys in the room said as most of the girls made disgusted or disapproving noises.

**Had this been before Sirius realized that he liked blokes or before he fell in love with Remus?**

"Yes," Sirius said with a soft smile, pecking Remus on the cheek.

**Sophia could tell that they were Muggles because they remained quite stationary within their pictures, faded smiles and glazed eyes frozen on the paper. This was in contrast the only Wizarding photograph on the walls which was a picture of four Hogwarts students standing arm in arm, laughing at the camera.**

Sirius and Remus exchanged a smile, knowing what the picture was. Those were definitely the best years of their lives.

**With a leap of pleasure, Sophia recognized her father, his untidy black hair stuck up at the back like, and he wore glasses. Beside him was Sirius, carelessly handsome, his slightly arrogant face so much younger and happier than Sophia had ever seen it.**

Sirius frowned, he wish he could be like that now, carefree and happy, but he lost that with his stay in Azkaban and he had gained some of it back since being reunited with Remus but even he couldn't take the full pain away of losing James and Lily.

**To Sirius' right stood Pettigrew,**

"Do you really have to think about that rat bastard?" Sirius hissed.

Sophia shrugged; it wasn't her fault that Wormtail was in the picture.

**more than a head shorter, plump and watery-eyed, flushed with pleasure at his inclusion in this coolest of gangs, with the much-admired rebels that James and Sirius had been.**

Sirius was steadily getting angry at this description and Remus was now glaring at the book, too.

**On James's left was Remus, even then a little shabby-looking, but he had the same air of delighted surprise at finding himself liked and included**

"Hey," Remus said, not liking being compared to Wormtail and knowing that his feeling weren't how Sophia was making it sound.

"You know it's true Moony, you were all pleased to being around us cool kids," Sirius said, teasing Remus was helping with his anger.

"I was happy to have really friends that by the time the picture was taken had excepted be for everything that I was," Remus said. "I could have careless about the coolness factor."

"Oh come on Remus, you know you loved the attention just as much as James and I did," Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say Padfoot," Remus rolled his eyes.

**or was it simply because Sophia knew how it had been, that she saw these things in the picture? She tried to take it from the wall, but it would not budge. Sirius had taken no chances in preventing his parents from redecorating his room.**

"Sorry," Sirius said, "but you understand that it was very important to annoy my mum."

**Sophia looked around at the floor. The sky outside was growing brightest. A shaft of light revealed bits of paper, books, and small objects scattered over the carpet. Evidently Sirius's bedroom had been reached too, although its contents seemed to have been judged mostly, if not entirely, worthless.**

Draco raised an eyebrow at that thinking that it might actually be Snape that was searching the house then. At least he knew that he wouldn't have dimmed anything in Potter's room valuable.

**A few of the books had been shaken roughly enough to part company with the covers and sundry pages littered the floor.**

**Sophia bent down, picked up a few of the pieces of paper, and examined them. She recognized one as a part of an old edition of **_**A History of Magic**_**, by Bathilda Bagshot, and another as belonging to a motorcycle maintenance manual. The third was handwritten and crumpled. She smoothed it out.**

**_Dear Padfoot,_**

Sirius smiled sadly at this, knowing what letter it was. He looked at Sophia, who was looking very interested to hear what was said in the book, and knew that it was something that was good for her to hear.

**_Thank you, thank you, for Sophia's birthday present! It was her favorite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick,_**

"I had a broomstick when I was a baby!" Sophia said surprised.

"Yep, I got it for you," Sirius said proudly. "James was going on about how bloody brilliant he thought you would be on the pitch so I thought I might as well get you started as early as possible."

"Thanks Sirius," Sophia smiled at him.

**_she looked so pleased with herself._**

"Of course she did, Potter has always been arrogant," Draco said, in a surprising teasing voice.

**_I'm enclosing a picture so you can see._**

"Is the picture there?" Molly questioned, looking at Sirius. She would love to see a picture Sophia as a baby, and it looked like Ginny and Hermione were thinking the same thing.

"It should be," Sirius said, he had kept the letter and the picture together.

**_You know it only rises about two feet off the ground but she nearly killed the cat and she smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (no complaints there). Of course James_**

"This is from my mum?" Sophia said, for some reason when it started with Padfoot, he just assumed that it was from his dad. Sirius nodded his head.

**_thought it was so funny, says she's going to be a great Quidditch player but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off her when she gets going._**

**_We had a very quiet birthday tea, just us and old Bathilda who has always been sweet to us and who dotes on Sophia. We were so sorry you couldn't come, but the Order's got to come first, and Sophia's not old enough to know it's her birthday anyway!_**

"Still, I wish I was there," Sirius said, he had no idea at that time that he wouldn't be able to spend a single birthday with his goddaughter in fifteen years.

"It's okay Sirius, I understand," Sophia told her godfather seriously.

**_James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it but I can tell – also Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak, so no chance of little excursions._**

Remus was about to ask a questioned but decided to wait until after the letter was finished, he could tell Harry really wanted to hear this letter and the less interruptions the better.

**_If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. Wormy was here last weekend._**

Sirius growled and Remus's face became hard but neither one say anything.

**_I thought he seemed down, but that was probably the news about the McKinnons; I cried all evening when I heard._**

Several of the adults bowed their head at that; remembering the travesty that had been.

**_Bathilda drops in most days, she's a fascinating old thing with the most amazing stories about Dumbledore. I'm not sure he'd be pleased if he knew! I don't know how much to believe, actually because it seems incredible that Dumbledore_**

**Sophia's extremities seemed to have gone numb.**

"We don't care about Sophia's extremities... what about Dumbledore?" Fred said.

"Fred," Molly reprimanded.

"Oh come on Mum, aren't you curious about what the letter was going to say next," Fred said.

Sirius was frowning, looking at Dumbledore curiously. He seemed to be uncomfortable, which definitely didn't seem like Dumbledore like behavior. Could it be that Lily was right when she said that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were friends? Well, Sirius wasn't about to oust him, that was for sure, he knew what it was like being friend with someone that turn out to be a bastard.

Remus looked at Sophia, who seemed to have a thoughtful and somewhat sad expression and figured that it was a good time to bring up his question; Sophia would want a few minutes to digest what she just heard. "Sir, I was just wondering why you kept James's Cloak for so long?"

Dumbledore gave him a piercing look, his expression was thoughtful and after a long time he said, "I believe that the answer will be provided soon, if I were to tell you now it will detract from the story."

Though Remus wasn't satisfied with this answer he knew better than to questioned Dumbledore more. However, the answer seemed to only make him more curious and confused about this.

Ron decided to read when no one made any more signs of interruptions.

**She stood quite still, holding the miraculous paper in her nerveless fingers while inside her a kind of quiet eruptions sent joy and grief thundering its equal measure through her veins. Lurching to the bed, she sat down.**

Sophia gave a weak smile to the floor, which was where she's been looking at since the Ron had finished reading the letter. It seemed like she was feeling the same thing as her book self.

**She read the letter again, but could not take in any more meaning than she had done the first time, and was reduced to staring at the handwriting itself. She had made her "g" the same way she did.**

"Can I see the book," Sophia asked in barely more than a whisper but Ron immediately handed the book to Sophia. She wasn't sure if this was really her mum's handwriting, though it was clearly not the normal print of the book. He sighed, it was unlikely to be hers, but the "g"s did look familiar.

She handed the book back to Ron a few minutes later, distinctively aware of everyone trying not to look at her as she brushed the tears off her eyes. She felt George's large hand cover her own small one and she felt oddly comforted. She gave him a weak grin which he returned before turning back to the book.

**She searched through the letter for every one of them, and each felt like a friendly little wave glimpsed from behind a veil. The letter was an incredible treasure, proof that Lily Potter had lived, really lived,**

Sirius open his mouth to exclaim that off course Lily loved her, but Remus put a hand on his shoulder, his eyes saying that these were thoughts that Sophia didn't need commenting on.

**that her warm hand had once moved across this parchment, tracing ink into these letters, these words, words about her, Sophia, her daughter.**

Ron again glanced at his best friend before reading again; he had never fully understood how hard it was on Sophia not to know her parents at all. Not to have a real memory of them, where a note like this would be such a precious treasure. He felt a little guilty for always being jealous of Sophia (for mostly things that Sophia had no control over really).

Molly, on the other hand, was starting to tear up as Arthur held her; she wanted to hug Sophia, seeing that these were the word the Sophia in the room must be thinking, too. She stopped herself though, because Sophia also seemed to be uncomfortable hearing this with everyone else in the room.

**Impatiently brushing away the wetness in her eyes, she reread the letter, this time concentrating on the meaning. It was like listening to a half-remembered voice.**

**They had a cat… perhaps it had perished, like her parents at Godric's Hollow…**

"No, I took care of Rusty for a while, but I finally gave him to Arabella Figg," Remus said. "I believe she calls him Mr. Tibbles."

"Really?" Sophia said shocked.

"Yeah," Remus said, "when I learned that she was keeping an eye on you I thought it would be best if he was nearby... he really loved you despite the fact that you always pulled his tail."

**or else fled when there was nobody left to feed it… Sirius had bought her, her first broomstick… Her parents had known Bathilda Bagshot; had Dumbledore introduced them? **_**Dumbledore's still got his Invisibility Cloak**_**… there was something funny there…**

"Which apparently we're not going to get an answer to, even though we have Dumbledore himself in this room to ask about it," George said in a huff and then grinned at his headmaster.

**Sophia paused, pondering her mother's words. Why had Dumbledore taken her father's Invisibility Cloak? Sophia distinctly remembered her headmaster telling her years before, "I don't need a cloak to become invisible" Perhaps some less gifted Order member had needed its assistance, and Dumbledore had acted as a carrier? Sophia passed on…**

**_Wormy was here…_****Pettigrew, the traitor, had seemed "down" had he? Was he aware that he was seeing her parents alive for the last time?**

More growls came from Sirius and Remus, though this time they weren't the only ones that were upset.

**And finally Bathilda again, who told incredible stories about Dumbledore. ****_It seems incredible that Dumbledore -_**

**That Dumbledore what?**

"See, Soph wants to know about it, too," Fred said.

"Hush, Fred," Molly said.

"I suppose we're not going to get an answer to that either are we, sir?" George questioned and Dumbledore just shook his head.

**But there were any number of things that would seem incredible about Dumbledore; that he had once received bottom marks in a Transfiguration test, for instance or had taken up goat charming like Aberforth…**

Everyone chuckled at that despite themselves.

**Sophia got to her feet and scanned the floor: Perhaps the rest of the letter was here somewhere. She seized papers, treating them in her eagerness, with as little consideration as the original searcher; she pulled open drawers, shook out books, stood on a chair to run her hand over the top of the wardrobe, and crawled under the bed and armchair.**

**At last, lying face down on the floor, she spotted what looked like a torn piece of paper under the chest of drawers. When she pulled it out, it proved to be most of the photograph that her mum, Lily had described in her letter. A brown-haired baby was zooming in and out of the picture on a tiny broom, roaring with laughter, and a pair of legs that must have belonged to her dad, James was chasing after her.**

Several people were chuckling at this, and there were a bunch of 'aw's mostly from the girls in the room (Sophia thought she even heard McGonagall say aw, but she couldn't be sure).

Sophia blushed as George said "aw" in her ear as he pulled her closer.

"I wish I could actually see that," Hermione was the one to voice what most of the room was thinking.

"I'll show it to you when we get back to Grimmauld Place," Sirius chuckled, but the mere mention of going back to that house made his features darken slightly.

**Sophia tucked the photograph into her pocket with her mum's letter and continued to look for the second sheet.**

**After another quarter of an hour, however she was forced to conclude that the rest of her mother's letter was gone. Had it simply been lost in the sixteen years that had elapsed since it had been written, or had it been taken by whoever had searched the room?**

At this Snape raised an eyebrow, he had been wondering if he was the one that searched the place, thinking it was unlikely. Why would he want to come to this place looking for something of Black's? However, this was something he would want. He knew how Lily signed her letters, and he knew what it would do to him to see those words.

**Sophia read the first sheet again, this time looking for clues as to what might have made the second sheet valuable. Her toy broomstick could hardly be considered interesting to the Death Eaters… The only potentially useful thing she could see here was possible information on Dumbledore. ****_It seems incredible that Dumbledore_****– what?**

"**Sophia? Sophia? ****_Sophia!"_**

"**I'm here!" she called, "What's happened?"**

"You left without telling us," Hermione grimaced, again being a little upset that Sophia had just left them, knowing how worried she would be about her right then.

"I've already said sorry for that," Sophia rolled her eyes.

**There was a clatter of footsteps outside the door, and Hermione burst inside.**

"**We woke up and didn't know where you were!" she said breathlessly. She turned and shouted over her shoulder, "Ron! I've found her"**

**Ron's annoyed voice echoed distantly from several floors below.**

"**Good! Tell her from me she's a git!"**

"You're a git," Fred and George said at the same time.

"I don't think he was talking to you," Tonks pointed out and the twins shrugged.

"**Sophia don't just disappear, please, we were terrified! Why did you come up here anyway?" She gazed around the ransacked room. "What have you been doing?"**

"**Look what I've just found"**

**She held out her mother's letter.**

Hermione smiled sadly at this, pleased that she would let her read this, knowing how important and private it was to her (not that it was private to her anymore, but she was sure that she wouldn't have shared this with most of the people in the room if it wasn't in this book).

**Hermione took it out and read it while Sophia watched her. When she reached the end of the page she looked up at her.**

"**Oh Sophia…"**

"**And there's this too"**

**She handed her the torn photograph, and Hermione smiled at the baby zooming in and out of sight on the toy broom.**

"**I've been looking for the rest of the letter," Sophia said, "but it's not here."**

**Hermione glanced around.**

"**Did you make all this mess, or was some of it done when you got here?"**

"**Someone had searched before me," said Sophia.**

"**I thought so. Every room I looked into on the way up had been disturbed. What were they after, do you think?"**

"**Information on the Order, if it was Snape."**

Snape rolled his eyes, "there would be no need for me to go back there for information. I would know that the Order would make sure there was nothing valuable there."

"Hah! So you're admitting that you're a Death Eater scum that's trying to get information on us," Sirius said, though his voice wasn't accusative, it was almost teasing.

Snape just rolled his eyes.

"**But you'd think he'd already have all he needed. I mean was ****_in _****the Order, wasn't he?"**

"**Well then," said Sophia, keen to discuss her theory, "what about information on Dumbledore? The second page of the letter, for instance. You know this Bathilda my mum mentions, you know who she is?"**

"**Who?"**

"You don't know who Bathilda is!" Fred exclaimed.

"Merlin, Sophia even knew who she was!" George said.

"She didn't say the last name, how am I..." Hermione started to say.

"And now you're making excusing," George said, shaking his head. "I'm very disappointed in you."

"**Bathilda Bagshot, the author of –"**

"**_A History of Magic,"_****said Hermione, looking interested. "So your parents knew her? She was an incredible magic historian."**

"**And she's still alive," said Sophia, "and she lives in Godric's Hollow. Ron's Auntie Muriel was talking about her at the wedding. She knew Dumbledore's family too. Be pretty interesting to talk to, wouldn't she?" There was a little too much understanding in the smile Hermione gave him for Sophia's liking.**

"I'm sorry I'm too understanding, Sophia," Hermione said.

"It's okay, but you really should work on that in the future," Sophia told her chuckling.

**She took back the letter and the photograph and tucked them inside the pouch around her neck, so as not to have to look at her and give herself away. "I understand why you'd love to talk to her about your mum and dad, and Dumbledore too," said Hermione. "But that wouldn't really help us in our search for the Horcruxes, would it?"**

"Don't be so reasonable Hermione, the girl just had an emotional time reading her mommy's letter for the first time," Fred said and then ignored his mum's reprimand like he always did.

**Sophia did not answer, and she rushed on, "Sophia, I know you really want to go to Godric's Hollow, but I'm scared. I'm scared at how easily those Death Eaters found us yesterday. It just makes me feel more than ever that we ought to avoid the place where your parents are buried, I'm sure they'd be expecting you to visit it."**

"I think Miss Granger has an excellent point there," McGonagall said, "it would be dangerous for you to go to places that are connect to you, Potter."

"Er... isn't there a connection to Grimmauld Place to Sophia?" Bill said.

"Yes, but Grimmauld Place has plenty of protections on it, ones that have nothing to do with the Ministry," McGonagall said, "I doubt that the Death Eater could get into her short of being invited in."

"**It's not just that," Sophia said, still avoiding looking at her, "Muriel said stuff about Dumbledore at the wedding. I want to know the truth…"**

**She told Hermione everything that Muriel had told her. When she had finished, Hermione said, "Of course, I can see why that's upset you, Sophia–"**

"**I'm not upset," she lied,**

Hermione shook her head, how could she believe that she would buy that?

"**I'd just like to know whether or not it's true or –"**

"**Sophia do you really think you'll get the truth from a malicious old woman like Muriel, or from Rita Skeeter? How can you believe them? You knew Dumbledore!"**

"**I thought I did," she muttered.**

"I don't understand," Sophia frowned. "Why am I thinking like this?"

"Well Sophia, if you don't have an answer to that, I doubt any of us would," Sirius chuckled.

"It might be because you're grieving," Hermione said softly. "The way people deal with their pain is different for everyone."

"**But you know how much truth there was in everything Rita wrote about you! Doge is right, how can you let these people tarnish your memories of Dumbledore?"**

**She looked away, trying not to betray the resentment she felt. There it was again: Choose what to believe. She wanted the truth. Why was everybody so determined that she should not get it?**

"Because it's fun denying you things you want," Ron suggested.

"Yes, I'm sure that's the answer," Sophia rolled her eyes.

"**Shall we go down to the kitchen?" Hermione suggested after a little pause. "Find something for breakfast?"**

**She agreed, but grudgingly, and followed her out onto the landing and past the second door that led off it. There were deep scratch marks in the paintwork below a small sign that she had not noticed in the dark. She passed at the top of the stairs to read it. It was a pompous little sign, neatly lettered by hand the sort of thing that Percy Weasley might have stuck on his bedroom door.**

The Weasley siblings sniggered at this, and were surprise to find their sniggering wasn't done in malice. Percy, however, was looking at Sophia coldly for that thought.

**_Do Not Enter_**

**_Without the Express Permission of_**

**_Regulus Arcturus Black_**

**Excitement trickled through Sophia, but she was not immediately sure why.**

Sirius bit his lip... this was it, they were going to find out if it was his brother that took the locket or not.

**She read the sign again. Hermione was already a flight of stairs below her.**

"**Hermione," she said, and she was surprised that her voice was so calm. "Come back up here."**

"**What's the matter?"**

"**R.A.B. I think I've found him."**

Everyone was starting to look more interested, sitting at the edge of their seats.

**There was a gasp, and then Hermione ran back up the stairs.**

"**In your mum's letter? But I didn't see –"**

**Sophia shook her head, pointing at Regulas' sign. She read it, then clutched Sophia's arm so tightly that she winced.**

"I hate it when you do that," Sophia grumbled.

"Sorry," Hermione smiled at her sheepishly.

"**Sirius's brother?" she whispered.**

"**He was a Death Eater," said Sophia. "Sirius told me about him, he joined up when he was really young and then got cold feet and tried to leave – so they killed him."**

Sirius sighed, hoping that his brother really had taken the locket, but also feeling guilty for the resentment he felt toward his brother the latter half of his life.

"**That fits!" gasped Hermione. "If he was a Death Eater he had access to Voldemort, and if he became disenchanted, then he would have wanted to bring Voldemort down!"**

**She released Sophia, leaned over the banister, and screamed, "Ron! RON! Get up here, quick!"**

**Ron appeared, panting, a minute later, his wand ready in his hand.**

"Er... sorry I scared you," Hermione said to Ron, who just shrugged before he started reading again.

"**What's up? If it's massive spiders again I want breakfast before I –"**

"Before you what?" Fred questioned looking astounded.

Ron shook his head, but he too though that sounded like he actually did something to the spider, which at the moment was the last thing he would think of doing.

**He frowned at the sign on Regulus' door, in which Hermione was silently pointing.**

"**What? That was Sirius's brother, wasn't it? Regulus Arcturus … Regulus …**_**R.A.B.**_**! The locket – you don't reckon - ?"**

"**Let's find out," said Sophia. She pushed the door: It was locked. Hermione pointed her wand at the handle and said, "****_Alohamora_****." There was a click, and the door swung open.**

**They moved over the threshold together, gazing around. Regulus' bedroom was slightly smaller than Sirius', though it had the same sense of former grandeur. Whereas Sirius had sought to advertise his diffidence from the rest of the family, Regulus had striven to emphasize the opposite.**

Sirius grimaced at this, why did his brother have to love Slytherin so much? He thought Regulus was brave enough to be a Gryffindor... they could have been in the house together.

"It's not like he had much of a choice," Snape said, "he was seen what would happen to him if he disregarded his family tradition."

"How would you know what you would do?" Sirius snapped at him, glaring.

"Because I, unlike you, actually talked to Regulus after he went to Hogwarts," Snape said. "It was rather cold of you to stop speaking to your brother just for not being in your house."

"I didn't stop talking to him," Sirius hissed, pained by that accusation. What Snape said wasn't entire untrue, but it wasn't because he was a Slytherin that they had stopped talking. It was because they didn't have anything in common after they started going to Hogwarts. Regulus just seemed to do whatever he could to please their parents more and more and Sirius couldn't stand that.

**The Slytherin colors of emerald and silver were everywhere, draping the bed, the walls, and the windows. The Black family crest was painstakingly painted over the bed, along with its motto, TOUJOURS PUR.**

"Always Pure," Sirius and Draco murmured to themselves.

**Beneath this was a collection of yellow newspaper cuttings, all stuck together to make a ragged collage. Hermione crossed the room to examine them.**

"**They're all about Voldemort," she said. "Regulus seems to have been a fan for a few years before he joined the Death Eaters …"**

Sirius huffed, how was he supposed to get along with his brother when he did things like that... and yet, he felt like he should have tried.

**A little puff of dust rose from the bedcovers as she sat down to read the clippings. Sophia, meanwhile, had noticed another photograph: a Hogwarts Quidditch team was smiling and waving out of the frame. She moved closer and saw the snakes emblazoned on their chests: Slytherins. Regulus was instantly recognizable as the boy sitting in the middle of the front row: He had the same dark hair and slightly haughty look of his brother, though he was smaller, slighter, and rather less handsome than Sirius had been.**

"Well, thank you Prongslet," Sirius force himself to smile proudly at the unintentional compliment he got.

"**He played Seeker," said Sophia.**

"Yeah, and he was pretty good, too," Sirius said, "of course he never won until after I graduated."

"**What?" said Hermione vaguely; she was still immersed in Voldemort's press clippings.**

"**He's sitting in the middle of the front row, that's where the Seeker … Never mind," said Sophia, realizing that nobody was listening. Ron was on his hands and knees, searching under the wardrobe. Sophia looked around the room for likely hiding places and approached the desk. Yet again, somebody had searched before them. The drawers' contents had been turned over recently, the dust disturbed, but there was nothing of value there: old quills, out-of-date textbooks that bore evidence of being roughly handled, a recently smashed ink bottle, its sticky residue covering the contents of the drawer.**

"**There's an easier way," said Hermione, as Sophia wiped her inky fingers on her jeans. She raised her wand and said, "****_Accio Locket!_****"**

**Nothing happened. Ron, who had been searching the folds of the faded curtains, looked disappointed.**

"Well, of course I am, this means that the stupid locket isn't here," Ron said.

"**Is that it, then? It's not here?"**

"**Oh, it could still be here, but under counter-enchantments," said Hermione. "Charms to prevent it from being summoned magically, you know."**

"**Like Voldemort put on the stone basin in the cave," said Sophia, remembering how she had been unable to Summon the fake locket.**

"**How are we supposed to find it then?" asked Ron.**

"**We search manually," said Hermione.**

"Argh, you know how much I hate doing things manually," Ron grumbled.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the smirk he had in his face.

"**That's a good idea," said Ron, rolling his eyes, and he resumed his examination of the curtains.**

**They combed every inch of the room for more than an hour, but were forced, finally, to conclude that the locket was not there.**

**The sun had risen now; its light dazzled them even through the grimy landing windows.**

"**It could be somewhere else in the house, though," said Hermione in a rallying tone as they walked back downstairs.**

"Oh," Ginny said as Hermione gasped and the twins looked at each other, all thinking the same thing.

"What?" Ron questioned.

"I'm sure you'll see," Hermione said, waving him on to read.

**As Sophia and Ron had become more discouraged, she seemed to have become more determined. "Whether he'd manage to destroy it or not, he'd want to keep it hidden from Voldemort, wouldn't he? Remember all those awful things we had to get rid of when we were here last time? That clock that shot bolts at everyone and those old robes that tried to strangle Ron; Regulus might have put them there to protect the locket's hiding place, even though we didn't realize it at … at … "**

"Oh dear sweet Merlin, that locket!" Sirius said as Harry and Ron eyes widen. "I can't believe it..."

"You know where this locket is now," Dumbledore said, highly interested in this development.

"Er..." Sirius said looking terrified, "we sort of throw it out..."

There was a silence as everyone that didn't know this already looked astounded.

"Wait, this chapter is called Kreacher's tale," Remus reminded them, "and you know that elf likes to keep things from your family..."

"Right," Sirius said, feeling odd putting his hopes on Kreacher doing something. "Ron, continue reading."

**Sophia and Ron looked at her. She was standing with one foot in midair, with the dumbstruck look of one who had just been Obliviated: her eyes had even drifted out of focus.**

"Argh, I hate that look," Ron grumbled, though that wasn't true in the least. The look itself was adorable, it was just the fact that it meant that Hermione had just figured something and was then going be evasive about answering their questions about what it was.

"… **at the time," she finished in a whisper.**

"**Something wrong?" asked Ron.**

"**There was a locket."**

_Okay, so that time she didn't make them wait a hundred years before she gave them an answer... that's nice at least_, Ron thought to himself.

"**What?" said Sophia and Ron together.**

"**In the cabinet in the drawing room. Nobody could open it. And we … we …"**

**Sophia felt as though a brick had slid down through her chest into her stomach. She remembered. She had even handled the thing as they passed it around, each trying in turn to pry it open. It had been tossed into a sack of rubbish, along with the snuffbox of Wartcap powder and the music box that had made everyone sleepy …**

"**Kreacher nicked loads of things back from us," said Sophia. It was the only chance, the only slender hope left to them, and she was going to cling to it until forced to let go. "He had a whole stash of stuff in his cupboard in the kitchen. C'mon."**

**She ran down the stairs taking two steps at a time, the other two thundering along in her wake. They made so much noise that they woke the portrait of Sirius's mother as they passed through the hall.**

"_**Filth! Mudbloods! Scum!**_**" she screamed**

Sirius made a face at that but in his excitement to hear what happened he didn't bother to shout back at the stupid portrait.

**after them as they dashed down into the basement kitchen and slammed the door behind them. Sophia ran the length of the room, skidded to a halt at the door of Kreacher's cupboard, and wrenched it open. There was the nest of dirty old blankets in which the house-elf had once slept, but they were not longer glittering with the trinkets Kreacher had salvaged. The only thing there was an ****old copy of **_**Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy**_**. Refusing to believe her eyes, Sophia snatched up the blankets and shook them. A dead mouse fell out**

"Ew," Fleur cringed, but no one seemed to pay her any attention.

**and rolled dismally across the floor. Ron groaned as he threw himself into a kitchen chair; Hermione closed her eyes.**

"**It's not over yet," said Sophia, and she raised her voice and called, "****_Kreacher!_****"**

"What good will that do?" Charlie questioned. "It's not like you're his master right?"

"Actually he is," Sirius said. "Seeing as I'm Sophia's guardian and she's technically my heir, Kreacher will answer to her now."

"You own a House Elf!" Hermione snapped at Sophia. "You can't keep him...!"

"Hermione, we've been through this, it's too dangerous to let Kreacher be free now," Remus reminded her, but that didn't stop her from narrowing her eyes at Sophia.

"If I hear you mistreating..." she started.

Sophia glared, _How dare Hermione accuse her of doing that_!

"Come on Mione, you know Sophia wouldn't do that," Ron said, "even though the wretch deserves it."

Hermione was almost looking relax until Ron added the last part and now she was glaring at him. Ron shrugged, quite use to the glare, (and knowing this one wasn't too serious) started reading again.

**There was a loud ****_crack _****and the house elf that Sophia had so reluctantly got from Sirius appeared out of nowhere in front of the cold and empty fireplace: tiny, half human-sized, his pale skin hanging off him in folds, white hair sprouting copiously from his bat like ears. He was still wearing the filthy rag in which they had first met him, and the contemptuous look he bent upon Sophia showed that his attitude to her ownership had altered no more than his outfit.**

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Hermione said, shifting her glare again to Sophia, but there was no answer to that inquiry so Ron just kept reading.

"**Mistress," croaked Kreacher in his bullfrog's voice, and he bowed low; muttering to his knees, "back in my Mistress's old house with the blood-traitor Weasley and the Mudblood –"**

Several people hissed at this, though there was one person in the room that was having trouble not laughing. The blonde Slytherin was smart enough to know that he would likely get curse if he laughed out loud. However, he found it odd that it wasn't the blood-traitor or Mudblood comment that amused him; it was the fact that the elf actually said that out loud like that.

"**I forbid you to call anyone 'blood traitor' or 'Mudblood,'" growled Sophia. She would have found Kreacher, with his snoutlike nose and bloodshot eyes, a distinctively unlovable object even if the elf had not betrayed the Order and Sirius to Voldemort, which had caused Emmeline's death.**

"What?" Sirius said angry, but the color in his face paled.

"How could he do that?" Sophia questioned, feeling her anger towards the elf increase just thinking about this.

"I don't know, it's not like he can just go tell Voldemort anything," Remus said thoughtfully, "Sirius had forbidden him from doing that."

"Er... actually," Draco said shifting uncomfortably, he just remember something... something he had seen just recently, but he didn't know if he should say this. Wouldn't this be like declaring himself to be on Potter's side. Did he really want to do that? Then again, did he really want to end up torturing people just for the Dark Lords amusement.

"What is it?" Tonks questioned.

Draco looked at her for a second, she was his cousin, and this was the first time he had meet her. It was odd, why did he feel like he would like to get to know this girl when clearly she wasn't worth his time. Tonks smiled encouragingly at him and he found himself speaking before he fully made up his mind, "an elf showed up at our house a few days ago... I only saw a glimpse of him but he looked like this elf was described."

"That's impossible," Sirius paled farther. "Kreacher can't leave... he couldn't..."

"That's not true," Sophia said. "I know Dobby met me and he definitely didn't have permission to leave his family. Besides, Sirius, when was the last time you've seen Kreacher?"

"Er..." Sirius said thoughtfully and then bowed, "I haven't seen him sense I told him to leave the kitchen."

"When you shouted to him to get out," Ginny corrected and everyone groaned.

"That stupid, bloody elf," Sirius grumbled and Ron decided to start reading, though his voice showed that he was angry, too.

"**I've got a question for you," said Sophia, her heart beating rather fast as she looked down at the elf, "and I order you to answer it truthfully. Understand?"**

"**Yes, Mistress," said Kreacher, bowing low again. Sophia saw his lips moving soundlessly, undoubtedly framing the insults he was now forbidden to utter.**

"**Two years ago," said Sophia, her heart now hammering against her ribs, "there was a big gold locket in the drawing room upstairs. We threw it out. Did you steal it back?"**

**There was a moment's silence, during which Kreacher straightened up to look Sophia full in the face. Then he said, "Yes."**

"Well at least you're did something, you bloody sorry excuse of an elf," Sirius grumbled.

Hermione opened her mouth to defend the elf, but she couldn't in light of what they just heard, not right now at least.

Dumbledore on the other hand was smiling, they had one Horcrux and they didn't even have to expend much energy to get it.

"**Where is it now?" asked Sophia jubilantly as Ron and Hermione looked gleeful.**

**Kreacher closed his eyes as though he could not bear to see their reactions to his next word.**

"**Gone."**

"Bloody hell elf! Can't you don't anything right?" Sirius shouted.

"Sirius calm down," Remus put a hand on his shoulder and he took several deep breaths trying to control his temper.

"**Gone?" echoed Sophia, elation floating out of her, "What do you mean, it's gone?"**

**The elf shivered. He swayed.**

"**Kreacher," said Sophia fiercely, "I order you –"**

"**Mundungus Fletcher," croaked the elf, his eyes still tight shut.**

"Argh," several people groaned but though no one could make out her words, it was Tonks that seemed ready to kill the thief. After what he did to Moody he continued to be a bane in their fight against Voldemort by stealing this critical object. No, the next time she saw the thief, he was going to feel her displeasure for him.

Dumbledore, however, seemed to be relieved by this again, it was likely that the elf still had the locket in their time frame and if he didn't he would likely be about to get it from Mundungus easily enough.

"**Mundungus Fletcher stole it all; Miss Bella's and Miss Cissy's pictures, my Mistress's gloves, the Order of Merlin, First Class, the goblets with the family crest, and – and – "**

**Kreacher was gulping for air: His hollow chest was rising and falling rapidly, then his eyes flew open and he uttered a bloodcurdling scream.**

"—_**and the locket, Master Regulus' locket. Kreacher did wrong, Kreacher failed in his orders!**_**"**

**Sophia reacted instinctively: As Kreacher lunged for the poker standing in the grate, she launched himself upon the elf, flattening him.**

"Sophia, don't" Hermione said automatically.

"He's going to hurt himself Hermione," Sophia said, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Let him," Sirius said darkly.

**Hermione's scream mingled with Kreacher's but Sophia bellowed louder than both of them: "Kreacher, I order you to stay still!"**

**She felt the elf freeze and released him. Kreacher lay flat on the cold stone floor, tears gushing from his sagging eyes.**

"**Sophia, let him up!" Hermione whispered.**

"**So he can beat himself up with the poker?" snorted Sophia, kneeling beside the elf. "I don't think so. Right. Kreacher, I want the truth: How do you know Mundungus Fletcher stole the locket?"**

"**Kreacher saw him!" gasped the elf as tears poured over his snout and into his mouth full of graying teeth. "Kreacher saw him coming out of Kreacher's cupboard with his hands full of Kreacher's treasures. Kreacher told the sneak thief to stop, but Mundungus Fletcher laughed and r-ran …"**

"**You called the locket 'Master Regulus','" said Sophia. "Why? Where did it come from? What did Regulus have to do with it? Kreacher, sit up and tell me everything you know about that ****locket, and everything Regulus had to do with it!"**

Sirius stop glaring at the book now, knowing he was going to hear about what his brother had done. His angry at the elf momentary vanished as he waited to hear the story.

**The elf sat up, curled into a ball, placed his wet face between his knees, and began to rock backward and forward. When he spoke, his voice was muffled but quite distinct in the silent, echoing kitchen.**

"**Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress's heart**

"As if she had one," Sirius couldn't stop himself from saying.

**with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper order; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. For years he talked of the Dark Lord, who was going to bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns … and when he was sixteen years old, Master Regulus joined the Dark Lord. So proud, so proud, so happy to serve …**

"Sixteen," Sirius groaned. He knew his brother had been young, but he didn't think it was that young.

Draco was looking thoughtful at this, if it was true that he was torturing people and at meetings filled with Death Eaters, that meant that he too would become a Death Eater at that age. That meant that he would likely becoming a Death Eater in a few months. That thought made him feel unnerve, though he knew it was what he always wanted, he didn't think it would come this soon.

**And one day, a year after he joined, Master Regulus came down to the kitchen to see Kreacher. Master Regulus always liked Kreacher. And Master Regulus said … he said …"**

**The old elf rocked faster than ever.**

"… **he said that the Dark Lord required an elf."**

"Why would he need an elf?" Ron questioned.

Dumbledore sighed, but didn't answer the questioned. He could imagine what Voldemort would use an elf for, and none of them would be healthy for the poor elf.

"**Voldemort needed an **_**elf**_**?" Sophia repeated, looking around at Ron and Hermione, who looked just as puzzled as she did.**

"**Oh yes," moaned Kreacher. "And Master Regulus had volunteered Kreacher. It was an honor, said Master Regulus, an honor for him and for Kreacher, who must be sure to do whatever the Dark Lord ordered him to do … and then to c-come home."**

**Kreacher rocked still faster, his breath coming in sobs.**

"**So Kreacher went to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord did not tell Kreacher what they were to do, but took Kreacher with him to a cave beside the sea. And beyond the cave was a cavern, and in the cavern was a great black lake …"**

**The hairs on the back of Sophia's neck stood up. Kreacher's croaking voice seemed to come to her from across the dark water. She saw what had happened as clearly as though she had been present.**

Sophia grimace, great, here's another memory of a traumatizing time that she will have to add to all the other ones she already have. Then again, seeing as the locket wasn't really there she could avoid this particular mess.

"… **There was a boat …"**

**Of course there had been a boat; Sophia knew the boat, ghostly green and tiny, bewitched so as to carry one wizard and one victim toward the island in the center. This, then, was how Voldemort had tested the defenses surrounding the Horcrux, by borrowing a disposable creature, a house-elf…**

"That's despicable," Hermione huffed, indignantly and Sirius looked taken aback that he agreed with her. He wouldn't even want Kreacher to be taken to somewhere as a disposable creature.

"**There was a b-basin full of potion on the island. The D-Dark Lord made Kreacher drink it …"**

**The elf quaked from head to foot.**

"**Kreacher drank, and as he drank he saw terrible thing … Kreacher's insides burned … Kreacher cried for Master Regulus to save him, he cried for his Mistress Black, but the Dark Lord only laughed … He made Kreacher drink all the potion … He dropped a locket into the empty basin … He filled it with more potion."**

"**And then the Dark Lord sailed away, leaving Kreacher on the island …"**

"Poor Kreacher," Hermione sighed, the only one that was willing to show the elf sympathy openly, but everyone was starting to feel it.

**Sophia could see it happening. She watched Voldemort's white, snakelike face vanishing into darkness, those red eyes fixed pitilessly on the thrashing elf whose death would occur within minutes, whenever he succumbed to the desperate thirst that the burning poison caused its victim … But here, Sophia's imagination could go no further, for she could not see how Kreacher had escaped.**

"**Kreacher needed water, he crawled to the island's edge and he drank from the black lake … and hands, dead hands, came out of the water and dragged Kreacher under the surface …"**

"Inferis!" Bill gasped and most of the room cringed.

"**How did you get away?" Sophia asked, and she was not surprised to hear herself whispering.**

**Kreacher raised his ugly head and looked Sophia with his great, bloodshot eyes.**

"**Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he said.**

"**I know – but how did you escape the Inferi?"**

**Kreacher did not seem to understand.**

"He Disapparated Sophia," Remus explained, "I'm guess from your book self-questioned that the cave is a place that a wizard could not Apparate in or out of, but the magic that elves have is quite different than our own and they can do plenty of things we can't."

Sophia just nodded her head, though she was starting to wonder how Voldemort could be so stupid as to use something that could actually escape by simply Disapparating.

"**Master Regulus told Kreacher to come back," he repeated.**

"**I know, but –"**

"**Well, it's obvious, isn't it, Soph?" said Ron. "He Disapparated!"**

"**But … you couldn't Apparate in and out of that cave," said Sophia, "otherwise Dumbledore –"**

"**Elf magic isn't like wizard's magic, is it?" said Ron, "I mean, they can Apparate and Disapparate in and out of Hogwarts when we can't."**

**There was a silence as Sophia digested this. How could Voldemort have made such a mistake? But even as she thought this, Hermione spoke, and her voice was icy.**

"**Of course, Voldemort would have considered the ways of house-elves far beneath his notice … It would never have occurred to him that they might have magic that he didn't."**

Dumbledore nodded his head in agreement with that, "I couldn't have said that better myself."

"**The house-elf's highest law is his Master's bidding," intoned Kreacher. "Kreacher was told to come home, so Kreacher came home …"**

"**Well, then, you did what you were told, didn't you?" said Hermione kindly. "You didn't disobey orders at all!"**

"You're wasting your breath Hermione," Ron said to her.

"Ronald, how can you be so insensitive after everything we just heard?" Hermione said. "Kreacher..."

"Will not accept anything you say because you're a Muggle-born," Ron interrupted her. "I didn't say he didn't deserve your sympathy, I was just saying that he wouldn't accept it."

"Oh," Hermione said, not sure what else to say.

**Kreacher shook his head, rocking as fast as ever.**

"**So what happened when you got back?" Sophia asked. "What did Regulus say when you told him what happened?"**

"**Master Regulus was very worried, very worried," croaked Kreacher. "Master Regulus told Kreacher to stay hidden and not to leave the house. And then … it was a little while later … Master Regulus came to find Kreacher in his cupboard one night, and Master Regulus was strange, not as he usually was, disturbed in his mind, Kreacher could tell … and he asked Kreacher to take him to the cave, the cave where Kreacher had gone with the Dark Lord … "**

Sirius started to shiver at that his eyes going wide. He knew what his brother had to have done... if he was honest with himself he knew this was coming as soon as the inferi where mentioned. His brother had to have sacrificed himself... but why, why would Regulus do such a stupid thing?

**And so they had set off. Sophia could visualize them quite clearly, the frightened old elf and the thin, dark Seeker who had so resembled Sirius … Kreacher knew how to open the concealed entrance to the underground cavern, knew how to raise the tiny boat: this time it was his beloved Regulus who sailed with him to the island with its basin of poison …**

At this point Tonks went to wrap her arms around Sirius, she had remembered Regulus, though she had only meet him once, she thought he was nice. She didn't like the thought of him going down to that cave to die like this, but she knew that Sirius was taking this harder than anyone. She then felt as Remus put a hand on Sirius shoulder; pull him closer and causing her to be squished between them.

"**And he made you drink the poison?" said Sophia, disgusted.**

"No Sophia, Regulus would never have done that," Sirius said in a hollow voice, "he loved that elf..."

Sophia shuddered as realization hit her and the rest of the room became stiff and silent. The only sound now in the room was Ron's voice as he read.

**But Kreacher shook his head and wept. Hermione's hands leapt to her mouth: She seemed to have understood something.**

"**M-Master Regulus took from his pocket a locket like the one the Dark Lord had," said ****Kreacher, tears pouring down either side of his snoutlike nose. "And he told Kreacher to take it and, when the basin was empty, to switch the lockets …"**

**Kreacher's sobs came in great rasps now; Sophia had to concentrate hard to understand him.**

"**And he ordered – Kreacher to leave – without him. And he told Kreacher – to go home – and never to tell my Mistress – what he had done – but to destroy – the first locket. And he drank – all the potion – and Kreacher swapped the lockets – and watched … as Master Regulus … was dragged beneath the water … and …"**

Sirius was starting to get angry at Kreacher again, but he knew this time his angry really was irrational. The elf couldn't go against his master's orders. It was just so much easier hating the elf... for when he was thinking about the image of his brother being dragged to the bottom of a lake by corpses... become a corpse himself... it make his inside ache.

"**Oh, Kreacher!" wailed Hermione, who was crying. She dropped to her knees beside the elf and tried to hug him. At once he was on his feet, cringing away from her, quite obviously repulsed.**

"**The Mudblood touched Kreacher, he will not allow it, what would his Mistress say?"**

"**I told you not to call her 'Mudblood'!" snarled Sophia, but the elf was already punishing himself. He fell to the ground and banged his forehead on the floor.**

"**Stop him – stop him!" Hermione cried. "Oh, don't you see now how sick it is, the way they've got to obey?"**

Everyone in the room seemed to see what she meant, as several people were crying over this whole situation.

"**Kreacher – stop, stop!" shouted Sophia.**

**The elf lay on the floor, panting and shivering, green mucus glistening around his snot, a bruise already blooming on his pallid forehead where he had struck himself, his eyes swollen and bloodshot and swimming in tears. Sophia had never seen anything so pitiful.**

"**So you brought the locket home," she said relentlessly, for she was determined to know the full story. "And you tried to destroy it?"**

"**Nothing Kreacher did made any mark upon it," moaned the elf. "Kreacher tried everything, everything he knew, but nothing, nothing would work … So many powerful spells upon the casing, Kreacher was sure the way to destroy it was to get inside it, but it would not open … Kreacher punished himself, he tried again, he punished himself, he tried again.**

Sirius sighed; he knew his brother wouldn't have wanted the elf to punish himself for not being able to destroy the locket. He was going to have to do something about this... for his brother he was going to have to be nice to that stupid elf.

**Kreacher failed to obey orders; Kreacher could not destroy the locket! And his mistress was mad with grief, because Master Regulus had disappeared and Kreacher could not tell her what had happened, no, because Master Regulus had f-f-forbidden him to tell any of the f-f-family what happened in the c-cave …"**

**Kreacher began to sob so hard that there were no more coherent words. Tears flowed down Hermione's cheeks as she watched Kreacher, but she did not dare touch him again. Even Ron, who was no fan of Kreacher's, looked troubled.**

"I'm not heartless mate," Ron said in attempt to lighten the mood, it was a weak attempt and it didn't work.

**Sophia sat back on her heels and shook her head, trying to clear it.**

"**I don't understand you, Kreacher," she said finally. "Voldemort tried to kill you, Regulus died to bring Voldemort down, but you were still happy to betray Sirius to Voldemort? You were happy to go to Narcissa and Bellatrix, and pass information to Voldemort through them …"**

"And he's already doing that now," Sirius frowned, "and I suppose I'm not allowed to kill the elf for this."

"Sirius, how can you..." Hermione started to say.

"It's hard for me to look at that elf and not be reminded of everything I hate about my childhood," Sirius said answered honestly, his eyes growing cold. "I will try to be nicer... but we're going to have to do something about this situation... it's dangerous to us all."

"Agreed," Dumbledore said, "but now that we know about it, we might be able to use it to our advantage."

"**Sophia, Kreacher doesn't think like that," said Hermione, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "He's a slave; house-elves are used to bad, even brutal treatment; what Voldemort did to Kreacher wasn't that far out of the common way. What do wizard wars mean to an elf like Kreacher? He's loyal to people who are kind to him, and Mrs. Black must have been, and Regulus certainly was, so he served them willingly and parroted their beliefs. I know what you're going to say," she went on as Sophia began to protest, "that Regulus changed his mind … but he doesn't seem to have explained that to Kreacher, does he? And I think I know why. Kreacher and Regulus' family were all safest if they kept to the old pure-blood line. Regulus was trying to protect them all."**

Sirius glared at the book, why did Regulus have to be so damn noble to sacrifice himself for their stupid parents.

"Hm, it seemed that you were right about your brother all along Sirius," Remus said, in attempt to cheer his husband up. "He would have made a good Gryffindor."

"Yeah," Sirius grumbled. "But unfortunately, his noble tendency had to be wasted on standing by his family."

"**Sirius –"**

"**Sirius was horrible to Kreacher, Sophia, and it's no good looking like that, you know it's true. Kreacher had been alone for such a long time when Sophia came to live here, and he was probably starving for a bit of affection. I'm sure 'Miss Cissy' and 'Miss Bella' were perfectly lovely to Kreacher when he turned up, so he did them a favor and told them everything they wanted to know. I've said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did … and well Sirius almost did."**

"I'm so sorry," Hermione said to Sirius about her last comment... actually for the whole paraphrase.

"It's okay," Sirius said, "you are right. I never treated him as anything but as a pest that I always have to constantly deal with."

**Sophia had no retort. As she watched Kreacher sobbing on the floor, she remembered what Dumbledore had said to her, mere hours after Sirius' planned death, which had fortunately not been successful: ****_I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's …_**

Sirius frowned at that. He knew that house elves had feelings, that they get happy and sad just like humans do. However, Dumbledore was right; he never really translated that to Kreacher feeling that way.

"**Kreacher," said Sophia after a while, "when you feel up to it, er … please sit up."**

**It was several minutes before Kreacher hiccupped himself into silence. Then he pushed himself into a sitting position again, rubbing his knuckles into his eyes like a small child.**

"**Kreacher, I am going to ask you to do something," said Sophia. She glanced at Hermione for assistance. She wanted to give the order kindly, but at the same time, she could not pretend that it was not an order. However, the change in her tone seemed to have gained her approval: Hermione smiled encouragingly.**

Fred, George and Ginny all chuckled weakly at the Sophia and Hermione interaction. They were all feeling bad for how they have been treating Kreacher, and for all the flack they have given Hermione about S.P.E.W. (though that didn't mean they were about to help her out with it), knowing that she had a good reason to be fighting as hard as she was for that.

"**Kreacher, I want you, please, to go and find Mundungus Fletcher. We need to find out where the locket – where Master Regulus' locket it. It's really important. We want to finish the work Master Regulus started; we want to – er – ensure that he didn't die in vain."**

Sirius nodded his head, he was going to have to find a way to destroy that locket when they got back to Grimmauld Place for Regulus.

**Kreacher dropped his fists and looked up at Sophia.**

"**Find Mundungus Fletcher?" he croaked.**

**"And bring him here, to Grimmauld Place," said Sophia. "Do you think you could do that for us?"**

**As Kreacher nodded and got to his feet, Sophia had a sudden inspiration. She pulled out Hagrid's purse and took out the fake Horcrux, the substitute locket in which Regulus had placed the note to Voldemort.**

"**Kreacher, I'd, er, like you to have this," she said, pressing the locket into the elf's hand. "This belonged to Regulus and I'm sure he'd want you to have it as a token of gratitude for what you—"**

"Er... I don't think you should have done that," Sirius said, sure of how the elf was going to react.

"Why... it's not an article of clothing is it?" Sophia questioned.

"No, you wouldn't be freeing him," Sirius said, "it's just... house elves don't normally get things like that.

Sophia just shrugged at that.

"**Overkill, mate," said Ron as the elf took one look at the locket, let out a howl of shock and misery, and threw himself back onto the ground.**

**It took them nearly half an hour to calm down Kreacher, who was so overcome to be presented with a Black family heirloom for his very own that he was too weak at the knees to stand properly. When finally he was able to totter a few steps they all accompanied him to his cupboard, watched him tuck up the locket safely in his dirty blankets, and assured him that they would make its protection their first priority while he was away.**

Ginny snorted at this, the image of the old elf doing this, just struck her as funny. Everyone else looked at her curiously (and Hermione glared at her).

"Sorry," she continued to laugh.

**He then made two low bows to Sophia and Ron, and even gave a funny little spasm in Hermione's direction that might have been an attempt at a respectful salute, before Disapparating with the usual loud **_**crack**_**.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Ron said frowning. "Er... Hermione."

"Yes," Hermione said.

Ron shifted uncomfortable in his sit and his ears turned red before he said, "I'm sorry... about the elf thing... I didn't realize that it was like that."

"It's okay Ron," Hermione smiled, perhaps a tad bit smugly, at him. "At least you understand now... Now all I have to do is make the other thousands of wizards and witches to see my point."

"I'm sure you'll manage that somehow," Ron chuckled and then held out the book, "who wants to read next."

"I will," Fred said talking the book.

* * *

I now realized about the he/she thing in my previous chapters. I might go back and change them but I'm working on the future ones and are hoping to get at least halfway done before school starts on July 31st. I'm really sorry about that. I'll change a few tonight if I can but I'm carefully reading over future chapters for the he/she thing.


	11. Chapter 11: The Bribe

**Disclaimer: Do Not Own. **

**Thank you to all who are reading this and to my reviewers.**

**Guest: Thank you for calling me a moron. And if you haven't noticed there are others stories like this. I read a story where someone said they contacted someone from J.K. Rowling's team and she didn't mind stories like this as long as they have no intent for money. Please if you do this on anyone's else'****s story. Don't call them a moron. It is very unnecessary and rude. **

**Just Another Aceves: The proofreading is terrible and I've always felt the characters would act this way if reading about themselves. I mean everyone has a different opinion on this. I redid chapters 1-5 at like 4 in the morning to make this better. And I've been reading over my chapters with a sharp eye. I really appreciate the criticism because it helps me correct my mistakes but they way I portrayed the characters is just my opinion. I mean if anybody wanted to give me ideas I would use them. **

* * *

"**The Bribe,"**Fred read smirking, "I like the sound of this."

Molly looked like she was thinking the opposite of her son, but she didn't say anything.

**If Kreacher could escape a lake full of Inferi, Sophia was confident that the capture of Mundungus would take a few hours at most, and she prowled the house all morning in a state of high anticipation.**

"It's not that easy Prongslet," Sirius frowned. "Kreacher was only able to escape easily from the Inferis because his magic works differently than ours. However, he's actually going to have to track Mundungus down, and that worm really knows how to hide himself well when he knows someone is after him.

**However, Kreacher did not return that morning or even that afternoon. By nightfall, Sophia felt discouraged and anxious, and a supper composed largely of moldy bread, upon which Hermione had tried a variety of unsuccessful Transfigurations, did nothing to help.**

"Argh!" Ron groaned, he seriously hoped that wasn't indicating what they were going to be eating in the future.

"Transfiguring food is very difficult, it took me awhile to get used to it," Molly said, though she was looking at her youngest son. He had always been a big eater and his temper always rose when he was hungry.

"I'm still not very good at them," McGonagall admitted with a frown.

"Really, the great Transfiguration master can't..." Sirius started to say, teasing his old, and favorite, professor.

"That's enough Sirius!" McGonagall said hotly, giving him the glare that he hadn't seen in a long time. Sirius just smiled at her, he missed this, but chose to otherwise behave himself.

**Kreacher did not return the following day, nor the day after that. However, two cloaked men had appeared in the square outside number twelve, and they remained there into the night, gazing in the direction of the house that they could not see.**

Everyone shivered at that.

"Why are they there?" Molly asked anxiously. "They don't know that Ron and the others are there do they?"

"I would think not," Dumbledore said, "I would imagine they would have more people there if they actually believe Sophia was there. They are likely just keeping an eye on places where Sophia is known to go."

"Why wouldn't the Dark Lord send Snape there?" Draco questioned. "Wouldn't that be the fastest way to know if Potter was at Grimmauld Place?"

"That's a good question," Dumbledore frowned. "Perhaps Severus has informed Voldemort that he could not go into Grimmauld Place any longer or that Sophia and the others aren't there."

"**Death Eaters, for sure," said Ron, as he, Sophia, and Hermione watched from the drawing room****windows. "Reckon they know we're in here?"**

"**I don't think so," said Hermione, though she looked frightened, "or they'd have sent Snape in after us, wouldn't they?"**

"**D'you reckon he's been in here and has his tongue tied by Moody's curse?" asked Ron.**

"**Yes," said Hermione, "otherwise he'd have been able to tell that lot how to get in, wouldn't he?**

"I might have come to Grimmauld Place and allowed my tongue to be tied to have proof I couldn't tell the Dark Lord about the place," Snape said.

**But they're probably watching to see whether we turn up. They know that Sophia has part-ownership in the house, after all."**

"How do they...?" Sophia started to say, causing Fred to laugh and read the next line in the book.

"**How do they -?" began Sophia.**

"I'm still waiting for an answer," Sophia said with mock impatience.

"I know, how many times does she have to ask the questioned?" George asked smirking. "Are you waiting for her past self to ask the question that his present and future self have?"

Fred rolled his eyes at his twin's question, before he started reading again.

**"Documents like wizarding adoptions**** are examined by the Ministry, remember? They'll know Sirius adopted you and you have some ownership in this place."**

**The presence of the Death Eaters outside increased the ominous mood inside number twelve. They had not heard a word from anyone beyond Grimmauld Place since Mr. Weasley's Patronus, and the strain was starting to tell.**

The trio sighed at this, the strain was already starting to show and they had only been on their own for a few days. This was going to be a long quest.

**Restless and irritable, Ron had developed an annoying habit of playing with the Deluminator in his pocket; This particularly infuriated Hermione, who was whiling away the wait for Kreacher by studying ****_The Tales of Beedle the Bard _****and did not appreciate the way the lights kept flashing on and off.**

"Gee... I wonder why Ron picked up that annoying habit," George said, trying to look puzzled.

Several people chuckled as Ron tried to looking like he didn't understand what his brother was getting at, but the color of his ears betrayed him.

"**Will you stop it!" she cried on the third evening of Kreacher's absence, as all the light was sucked from the drawing room yet again.**

"**Sorry, sorry!" said Ron, clicking the Deluminator and restoring the lights. "I don't know I'm doing it!"**

"**Well, can't you find something useful to occupy yourself?"**

"**What, like reading kids' stories?"**

"**Dumbledore left me this book, Ron –"**

"—**and he left me the Deluminator, maybe I'm supposed to use it!"**

"Sir, I didn't know you would give Ronnie boy a gift to help him with his horrendous flirting skills," Fred said to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore just chuckled, obviously that wasn't the reason why he gave the boy the Deluminator, but he would be pleased if that was an unexpected effect.

**Unable to stand the bickering,**

"Wow, Phia, it only took you six years to not be able to stand the bickering between them!" George said.

**Sophia slipped out of the room unnoticed by either of them. She headed downstairs toward the kitchen, which she kept visiting because she was sure that was where Kreacher was most likely to reappear.**

"Actually he's most likely to appear wherever you are," Sirius said.

**Halfway down the flight of stairs into the hall, however, she heard a tap on the front door, then metallic clicks and the grinding of the chain.**

"That's not good," Remus said, he didn't want anyone coming there.

"It might be someone for the order," Tonks said, looking uncomfortable too, as where most of the people in the room. Her words seemed to have relaxed the others slightly.

**Every nerve in his body seemed to tauten: She pulled out her wand, moved into the shadows beside the decapitated elf heads, and waited. The door opened: She saw a glimpse of the lamplit square outside, and a cloaked figure edged into the hall and closed the door behind it.**

The tension in the room became stifling as Fred continued reading. They hoped that this wasn't someone dangerous to Sophia. Even though it was more likely to be an Order member than a Death Eater, they have already been scare in this book enough. They knew that anything could happen.

**The intruder took a step forward, and Moody's voice asked, "****_Severus Snape?_****" Then the dust figure rose from the end of the hall and rushed him, raising its dead hand.**

"**It was not I who killed you, Albus," said a quiet voice.**

**The jinx broke: The dust-figure exploded again, and it was impossible to make out the newcomer through the dense gray cloud it left behind.**

"That seems like a serious oversight," Draco muttered, not as nervous as most of the room, but more nervous than he would like to admit. "You should be able to see who was there."

"I'll make sure that Moody knows your complaints about his curse," Tonks said, and Draco paled a little. "Don't worry, if your suggestion is good, he wouldn't hold it against you."

**Sophia pointed the wand into the middle of it.**

"**Don't move!"**

"Good Sophia," several people said at the same time.

**She had forgotten the portrait of Mrs. Black: At the sound of Sophia's yell, the curtains hiding her flew open and she began to scream, "****_Mudbloods and filth dishonoring my house –_****"**

**Ron and Hermione came crashing down the stairs behind Sophia, wands pointing, like hers, at the unknown man now standing with his arms raised in the hall below.**

There were more murmurs of good, at this.

"**Hold your fire, it's me, Remus!"**

"You're right Moony, this is not good," Sirius said to his husband smiling. "Why would anyone want you around?"

"If that is how you feel, I won't come to visit you as much," Remus responded, and Sirius shuddered at that thought and pulled Remus closer to him making the werewolf smirk.

"**Oh, thank goodness," said Hermione weakly, pointing her wand at Mrs. Black instead; with a bang, the curtains swished shut again and silence fell. Ron too lowered his wand, but Sophia did not.**

Snape was about to say something about this, but caught himself, he wasn't about the praise Potter on anything.

However, Bill didn't have a problem with it. "Good on you Sophia, this was no time to be lacks on security."

"**Show yourself!" she called back.**

**Remus moved forward into the lamplight, hands still held high in a gesture of surrender.**

"**I am Remus John Lupin, werewolf, sometimes known as Moony, one of the four creators of the Marauder's Map, married to Sirius Black, and I taught you how to produce a Patronus, Sophia, which takes the form of a stag."**

"Hm... I wouldn't trust him Soph," Sirius said narrowing his eyes.

"Actually because I'm a werewolf no one would be able to transform into me properly," Remus said, "and I would hope that Sophia would know how I look enough to distinguish someone that had merely transfigured their appearance."

"Still, the Death Eater could easily have found out everything that you have said to Potter," Snape said. "Besides, the fact that you taught her how to produce a Patronus, the rest is public knowledge."

"Who knows that Remus's nickname is Moony?" Sirius scoffed.

"You're best friend turned traitor," Snape said coldly, others might not believe it but he hated the rat, Peter Pettigrew, almost as much as the Marauders did. "I'm not sure the rat has thought about telling the Dark Lord that, but the information is available to him."

"Then I should think of better things to prove who I am," Remus said thoughtfully, though he was struggling to contain his angry about the mention of the rat.

"**Oh, all right," said Sophia, lowering her wand, "but I had to check, didn't I?"**

"**Speaking as your ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, I quite agree that you had to check. Ron, Hermione, you shouldn't be so quick to lower your defenses."**

**They ran down the stairs towards him. Wrapped in a thick black traveling cloak, he looked exhausted, but pleased to see them. Sophia embraced the man in a tight hug.**

"**No sign of Severus, then?" he asked after Sophia released him.**

"You call him Severus even when he's a traitor!" Sirius hissed, though the looking in his eyes as he watched Snape showed that he was trying to get to his rival. Unfortunately, Snape saw the look and didn't react to the comment at all, just stared coldly back at Sirius.

"**No," said Sophia. "What's going on? Is everyone okay?'**

"**Yes," said Remus, "but we're all being watched. There are a couple of Death Eaters in the square outside –"**

"**We know –"**

"**I had to Apparate very precisely onto the top step outside the front door to be sure that they would not see me. They can't know you're in here or I'm sure they'd have more people out there; they're staking out everywhere that's got any connection with you, Sophia. Let's go downstairs, there's a lot to tell you, and I want to know what happened after you left the Burrow."**

**They descended into the kitchen, where Hermione pointed her wand at the grate. A fire sprang up instantly: It gave the illusion of coziness to the stark stone walls and glistened off the long wooden table. Remus pulled a few butterbeers from beneath his traveling cloak and they sat down.**

"**I'd have been here three days ago but I needed to shake off the Death Eater tailing me," said Remus.**

Sirius grimaced at this; he didn't like hearing that Remus was being followed.

"**So, you came straight here after the wedding?"**

"**No," said Sophia, "only after we ran into a couple of Death Eaters in a café on Tottenham Court Road."**

**Remus slopped most of his butterbeer down his front.**

"Wow, you shocked him... that doesn't happen often," Sirius informed Sophia.

"_**What?**_**"**

**They explained what had happened; when they had finished, Remus looked aghast.**

"**But how did they find you so quickly? It's impossible to track anyone who Apparates, unless you grab hold of them as they disappear."**

"**And it doesn't seem likely they were just strolling down Tottenham Court Road at the time, does it?" said Sophia.**

"**We wondered," said Hermione tentatively, "whether Sophia could still have the Trace on her?"**

"**Impossible," said Remus. Ron looked smug, and Sophia felt hugely relieved. "Apart from anything else, they'd know for sure Sophia was here if she still had the Trace on her, wouldn't they? But I can't see how they could have tracked you to Tottenham Court Road, that's worrying, really worrying."**

"Indeed it is," Dumbledore said frowning, "even more so because you don't know how they did it, though I'm sure it had something to do with the actions you did and not you personally."

**He looked disturbed, but as far as Sophia was concerned, that question could wait.**

"**Tell us what happened after we left, we haven't heard a thing since Ron's dad told us the family was safe."**

"**Well, Kingsley saved us," said Remus. "Thanks to his warning most of the wedding guests were able to Disapparate before they arrived."**

"Good," Molly said, she didn't like to think of people being hurt because they went to the wedding. Fleur agree with this, and hoped that her family was among the ones that left, though she wasn't sure if they would have or not.

"**Were they Death Eaters or Ministry people?" interjected Hermione.**

"**A mixture; but to all intents and purposes they're the same thing now," said Remus.**

There was a general hiss of disapproval and disappointment at that sentence.

"How can people allow themselves to follow orders like that?" Molly asked indignantly. "They must have realized there was something wrong about this and figure out who was now in control of the Ministry!"

Though his mum wasn't looking at him the rest of his family was, which caused Percy to shift uncomfortably in his seat. He knew that he would never willing follow You-Know-Who, and he believed that he would realize what was going on and do the right thing. It hurt that his family didn't seem to believe this, that they believed that he was follow the Ministry blindly. And it hurt more that he didn't really blame them, that he understood where they were coming from and they had a point.

"**There were about a dozen of them, but they didn't know you were there, Sophia. Arthur heard a rumor that they tried to torture your whereabouts out of Scrimgeour before they killed him; if it's true, he didn't give you away."**

"I believe it," Sirius said firmly and everyone looked at him. "He's a jerk, and cares too much about politics for my taste, but he wouldn't help those Death Eater bastards out."

**Sophia looked at Ron and Hermione; their expressions reflected the mingled shock and gratitude she felt. She had never liked Scrimgeour much, but if what Remus said was true, the man's final act had been to try to protect Sophia.**

"**The Death Eaters searched the Burrow from top to bottom," Remus went on. "They found the ghoul, but didn't want to get too close –**

"Does that mean my plan worked?" Ron questioned.

"It sounds like it," Hermione answered and Ron smiled, looking relieved.

**and then they interrogated those of us who remained for hours. They were trying to get information on you, Sophia, but of course nobody apart from the Order knew that you had been there.**

"**At the same time that they were smashing up the wedding,**

"Hmph," Fleur huffed, and Sophia thought that no one in their right mind would want to smash up her wedding in the future with the glare she was giving the book.

**more Death Eaters were forcing their way into every Order-connected house in the country. No deaths," he added quickly, forestalling the question, "but they were rough. They burned down Dedalus Diggle's house, but as you know he wasn't there, and they used the Cruciarus Curse on Tonks' family.**

"No!" Tonks said, biting her lip. Kingsley wrapped an arm around her and she leaned into his shoulder. Sirius on the other hand was growling at the book in his anger of something like this happening to his favorite cousin.

**Again, trying to find out where you went after you visited them. They're all right – shaken, obviously, but otherwise okay."**

"**The Death Eaters got through all those protective charms?"**

**Sophia asked, remembering how effective these had been on the night she had crashed in Tonks' parents' garden.**

"**What you've got to realize, Sophia, is that the Death Eaters have got the full might of the Ministry on their side now," said Remus. "They've got the power to perform brutal spells without fear of identification or arrest. They managed to penetrate every defensive spell we'd cast against them, and once inside, they were completely open about why they'd come."**

"Argh, stupid Ministry," Sirius grumbled (causing Percy to glare at him). He was never going to be a fan of the Ministry, not after everything that happened to him and then everything they were putting Sophia through right now. He never imagined his hate for them could grow, but it has, not only were they idiots, but they were so weak as to let Voldemort take them over without even striking openly.

"**And are they bothering to give an excuse for torturing Sophia's where abouts out of people?" asked Hermione, an edge to her voice.**

"**Well," Remus said. He hesitated, then pulled out a folded copy of the **_**Daily Prophet**_**.**

Everyone's eyes narrowed at this, what could that bloody paper possible have to say about Sophia that would be a valid explanation to justify what the Death Eaters where doing.

"**Here," he said, pushing it across the table to Sophia, "you'll know sooner or later anyway. That's their pretext for going after you."**

**Sophia smoothed out the paper. A huge photograph of her own face filled the front page. She read the headline over it:**

**_WANTED FOR QUESTIONING ABOUT_**

**_THE DEATH OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE_**

"They're planning you for Dumbledore's death!" several people screamed and Sophia wasn't sure if McGonagall or Sirius had screamed louder.

"Who in their right mind would believe such tripe?" McGonagall said hotly.

**Ron and Hermione gave roars of outrage, but Sophia said nothing. She pushed the newspaper away; she did not want to read anymore: She knew what it would say. Nobody but those who had been on top of the tower when Dumbledore died knew who had really killed him and, as Rita Skeeter had already told the Wizarding world, Sophia had been seen running from the place moments after Dumbledore had fallen.**

"Argh, that bloody cow!" Hermione was the one to hiss.

"Hermione, language!" Ron said, looking amused that he finally could reprimand her.

Hermione shifted the intensity of her glare on him and he gulped at the look she was now giving him.

"**I'm sorry, Sophia," Remus said.**

"**So Death Eaters have taken over the ****_Daily Prophet _****too?" asked Hermione furiously.**

**Remus nodded.**

"**But surely people realize what's going on?"**

"**The coup has been smooth and virtually silent," said Remus.**

"**The official version of Scrimgeour's murder is that he resigned; he has been replaced by Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse."**

"**Why didn't Voldemort declare himself Minister of Magic?" asked Ron.**

"Why would he?" Bill asked his little brother looking a little disappointed.

Ron bowed his head at that and then mumbled something that no one could hear.

**Remus laughed.**

"**He doesn't need to, Ron. Effectively, he ****_is _****the Minister, but why should he sit behind a desk at ****the Ministry? His puppet, Thicknesse, is taking care of everyday business, leaving Voldemort free to extend his power beyond the Ministry.**

"**Naturally many people have deduced what has happened: There has been such a dramatic change in Ministry policy in the last few days, and many are whispering that Voldemort must be behind it. However, that is the point: They whisper. They daren't confide in each other, not knowing whom to trust; they are scared to speak out, in case their suspicions are true and their families are targeted. Yes, Voldemort is playing a very clever game. Declaring himself might have provoked open rebellion: Remaining masked has created confusion, uncertainty, and fear."**

"Stupid Ministry," Sirius repeated, for the same reasons he had before.

"**And this dramatic change in Ministry policy," said Sophia, "involves warning the Wizarding world against me instead of Voldemort?"**

"**That's certainly a part of it," said Remus, "and it is a masterstroke. Now that Dumbledore is dead, you – the Girl Who Lived – were sure to be the symbol and rallying point for any resistance to Voldemort. But by suggesting that you had a hand in the old hat's death, Voldemort has not only set a price upon your head, but sown doubt and fear amongst many who would have defended you.**

Everyone was glaring at the book at this point as they thought, as McGonagall had said moments before; who would believe that Sophia had killed Dumbledore.

"**Meanwhile, the Ministry has started moving against Muggle-borns."**

**Remus pointed at the **_**Daily Prophet**_**.**

"**Look at page two."**

**Hermione turned the pages with much the same expression of distaste she had when handling **_**Secrets of the Darkest Art**_**.**

"_**Muggle-born Register!**_**" she read aloud. "'**_**The Ministry of Magic is undertaking a survey of so-called "Muggle-borns" the better to understand how they came to possess magical secrets.**_

"'**_Recent research undertaken by the Department of Mysteries reveals that magic can only be passed from person to person when Wizards reproduce. Where no proven Wizarding ancestry exists, therefore, the so-called Muggle-born is likely to have obtained magical power by theft or force._**

"What was that?" Charlie questioned, snorting.

"Muggle-borns had obtained their magical power by theft or force," Fred said, and then eyes Hermione warily. "Just stay away from me Granger; you're not stealing my precious magic.

Hermione rolled her eyes at that comment.

"If it was that easy to get magic, then there wouldn't be any Squibs," Charlie said. "I can't believe that anyone would take this seriously."

"Well, I do believe it's true that the Department of Mysteries is looking into how magic is passed through the generations and why Muggle-borns and Pure Bloods that are unable to perform magic exist," Dumbledore said. "They still have trouble finding out the later, but they believe that Muggle-borns actually do have ancestor that were witches or wizards. I believe the _Profit_ is using it's now normal practices of using half-truths to bolster their story."

"You mean that there was someone in my family that was a witch or wizard?" Hermione questioned looking surprised; she was going to have to look into that.

"'_**The Ministry is determined to root out such usurpers of magical power, and to this end has issued an invitation to every so-called Muggle-born to present themselves for interview by the newly appointed Muggle-born Registration Commission**_**.'"**

"**People won't let this happen," said Ron.**

"**It****_is_****happening, Ron," said Remus. "Muggle-borns are being rounded up as we speak."**

"**But how are they supposed to have 'stolen' magic?" said Ron. "It's mental, if you could steal magic there wouldn't be any Squibs, would there?"**

"Look Charlie bear, you think just like Ron," Tonks pointed out to her friend.

Charlie frowned at the nickname as he always did, but shrugged at being compared to his youngest brother; there was nothing wrong with that.

"**I know," said Remus. "Nevertheless, unless you can prove that you have at least one close Wizarding relative, you are now deemed to have obtained your magical power illegally and must suffer the punishment."**

**Ron glanced at Hermione, then said, "What if purebloods and half-bloods swear a Muggle-born's part of their family? I'll tell everyone Hermione's my cousin –"**

"Hold on a second, I don't think you really want Hermione to be your cousin Ronniekins," George said to his brother.

"Nor do you want people to believe that you are... that would be just wrong," Fred added grimacing.

"I don't care about that," Ron huffed, "Mione's not going to get hurt because some stupid law!"

"Aw, how chivalrous you are," the twins said together in baby voices.

"Oh be quiet," Hermione said to them, she was smiling at Ron's thoughtfulness.

**Hermione covered Ron's hand with hers and squeezed it.**

"**Thank you, Ron, but I couldn't let you –"**

"**You won't have a choice," said Ron fiercely, gripping her hand back. "I'll teach you my family tree so you can answer questions on it."**

**Hermione gave a shaky laugh.**

"**Ron, as we're on the run with Sophia Potter, the most wanted person in the country, I don't think it matters. If I was going back to school it would be different. What's Voldemort planning for Hogwarts?" she asked Remus.**

"**Attendance is now compulsory for every young witch and wizard," he replied. "That was announced yesterday. It's a change, because it was never obligatory before. Of course, nearly every witch and wizard in Britain has been educated at Hogwarts, but their parents had the right to teach them at home or send them abroad if they preferred. This way, Voldemort will have the whole Wizarding population under his eye from a young age. And it's also another way of weeding out Muggle-borns, because students must be given Blood Status – meaning that they have proven to the Ministry that they are of Wizard descent – before they are allowed to attend."**

"Which means I wouldn't have been able to go back this year even if I wanted to," Hermione said pointedly looking at Sophia. She couldn't possible blame herself for her lack of education now and she wanted her to know that. Sophia smiled at her as she rolled her eyes, which she took to mean that she got the message.

**Sophia felt sickened and angry: At this moment, excited eleven-year-olds would be poring over stacks of newly purchased spell-books, unaware that they would never see Hogwarts, perhaps never see their families again either.**

Everyone sighed at that, most of them didn't have time to think of that yet, but now that it was brought up, it was hard not to.

"**It's . . . it's . . ." she muttered, struggling to find words that did justice to the horror of her thoughts, but Remus said quietly,**

"**I know."**

**Remus hesitated.**

"**I'll understand if you can't confirm this, Sophia, but the Order is under the impression that Dumbledore left you a mission."**

Sirius looked at his husband oddly; why would Remus be saying something like this?

"**He did," Sophia replied, "and Ron and Hermione are in on it and they're coming with me."**

"**Can you confide in me what the mission is?"**

**Sophia looked into the prematurely lined face, framed in thick but graying hair, and wished that she could return a different answer.**

"**I can't, Remus, I'm sorry. If Dumbledore didn't tell you I don't think I can."**

Dumbledore smiled sadly at that answer. This was the correct answer of course, he didn't want anyone to know about Voldemort's Horcrux, but it was only going to make Sophia's quest that much difficult. He sighed when he realized that everyone in this room now knew about the Horcrux and there was nothing he could do about that.

"**I thought you'd say that," said Remus, looking disappointed. "But I might still be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you were up to."**

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tonks said, staring coldly at the werewolf. "Are you going to just ditch Sirius?"

Sirius was Tonks' favorite cousin, so yes she would defend him from this so called husband of his.

"Er..." was the only answer Remus could give him. This did not improve Tonks' mood.

**Sophia hesitated. It was a very tempting offer, though how they would be able to keep their mission secret from Remus if he were with them all the time she could not imagine.**

**Hermione, however, looked puzzled.**

"**But what about Sirius?" she asked.**

"**What about him?" said Remus.**

"Remus, why the hell are you being so damn cold!" Sirius hissed at his husband.

"I don't know!" Remus frowned. "But I'm sure I have..."

"A good reason!" Sirius finished with a snap. "What the bloody hell could have happened that would make you want to abandon your me. _Again_?"

Sirius knew the last one was a low blow. Remus not believing Sirius' innocence was the only problem they had in their relationship and it was not spoken of much as it just brought up bad memories for the both of them.

Remus looked at the floor, not wanting to answer that but Sirius could read his reasoning in the gesture. Remus never believed that he had a right to be with anyone, that his condition made him a danger to the people that he was close to. Sirius hit him on the back of the head.

"Get over it!" Sirius snapped.

Remus sighed, "It does no good to tell me this, it's the me in the book that's letting my lycanthropy get to me."

"Well it looked like you were starting to think that, too," Sirius grumbled.

"Hopefully Sophia will be able to talk some sense into you," Sirius said, knowing that Remus need to talk to someone but he didn't have anyone now.

"**Well," said Hermione, frowning, "you're married! How does he feel about you going away with us?"**

"**Sirius will be perfectly safe," said Remus, "He's staying at his cousin Andromeda's house."**

**There was something strange in Remus' tone, it was almost cold. There was also something odd in the idea of Sirius remaining hidden at his cousin's house;**

"I can think of something," Molly said, thinking she had a good idea why Sirius wouldn't be fighting.

"Oh, and what is that?" Sirius questioned, because it looked like Molly had the answer. However, she just shook her head and motioned for her son to continue to read.

**he was, after all, a member of the Order and, as Sophia knew, was likely to want to be in the thick of the action.**

"**Remus," said Hermione tentatively, "is everything all right . . . you know. . . between you and –"**

"**Everything is fine, thank you," said Remus pointedly.**

**Hermione turned pink. There was another pause, an awkward and embarrassed one, and then Remus said, with an air of forcing himself to admit something unpleasant, "Sirius is going to have a baby."**

There was silence for a few seconds, where in Molly nodded her head knowingly, before Sirius was cheering again. "We're going to have a baby!"

Remus on the other hand got out of his chair and left the room, his hands clenched into fist.

"What...?" Tonks started to say, realizing that Remus was obviously angry about this. It hurt to see his reaction to this news, and it was worse hearing that he was planning on just ditching him in the book.

"He has his reasons," Sirius said as he got up to follow his husband

"I would imagine it has something to do with the fact that he's a werewolf," Arthur said, "and I'm sure that once he knows the baby is safe and healthy he will be the happiest man in the world."

"So Molly dear, how long did you know about this?" Arthur then turned to his wife.

"Oh, since Sophia's birthday," Molly smiled. "When Sirius was described as being radiant."

"That's impossible, men can't have children," Hermione said.

"I'm sure it will be explained in the book." Arthur told her.

They wait a half hour, discussing different things though most of the conversation revolved around the baby in some way. After that time a Remus that was looking very subdue and draw came back into the room, along with a sad and slightly exasperated looking Sirius. Neither one of them made to speak to any of the others, and they looked so unapproachable that no one tried to say anything to them. In fact the only thing that could be done was Fred starting to read again, though everyone wondered what had been discussed between the two.

"**But Remus, that's impossible, Sirius is man and he can't have children" squeaked Hermione.**

**"Hermione, in the wizarding world, there is a potion that allows men to have children. And Sirius took that potion accidently and now he's pregnant." Remus said patiently, yet irritably. **

Sirius couldn't help but look saddened; his husband was going to leave him and their future baby.

"**Excellent!" said Ron enthusiastically.**

"**Congratulations," said Sophia.**

**Remus gave an artificial smile that was more like a grimace, then said, "So . . . do you accept my offer? Will three become four? I cannot believe that Dumbledore would have disapproved, he appointed me your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, after all.**

Sophia was trying not to look at Remus incredulously, but if the werewolf thought that she would honestly take him after hearing that Sirius, her own godfather, was pregnant, he had another thing coming. She understood that Remus would have concerns about having a child but she couldn't condone someone abandoning his family like that.

**And I must tell you that I believe we are facing magic many of us have never encountered or imagined."**

**Ron and Hermione both looked at Sophia.**

"**Just – just to be clear," she said. "You want to leave Sirius at his cousin's house and come away with us?"**

"**He'll be perfectly safe there, they'll look after him, Tonks is pregnant herself and they are already planning baby names." said Remus. **

Tonks looked excitedly at Kingsley, who smiled back at her. Even though it was during war, they were still bringing a new life into this world.

Molly smiled at the two. She had also known this.

**He spoke with a finality bordering on indifference: "Sophia, I'm sure James would have wanted me to stick with you."**

Sirius snorted at that but Remus made no movement at all. Whatever was said in the other room didn't seem to have helped much; it only had seemed to make Remus redraw more.

"You're not even going to give us a chance, are you?" Sirius said in a hollow voice as he stared at Remus blank and somewhat stony expression.

"I can't," Remus said stiffly and then with what seemed like it took great effort, looked at him. He deserved to be looked at when he said this, "I've always wanted a family, but knew I couldn't have one. It's not safe and you don't deserve this..."

"We've already been through this, I don't want anyone else," Sirius said, "especially not now when I know that we still are and will be happy together... that we will have..."

"I can't allow an innocent child be born with my deformity," Remus said firmly.

"You don't know that would happen," Sirius said, "how many werewolves have had children."

"Besides, even if the child is a werewolf..." Tonks started, still quite angry with Remus.

However, when Remus turned to her there was a fierce glare that showed a hint of the monster within the man. "If you had ever transformed you would not have said something as flippant as that. You have no idea what it's like to be unable to control yourself... to become a monster every month. To think of putting a child through such an experience before it's is even old enough to understand anything... No I will not do that. I cannot allow that..." Remus anger evaporated as he said this, making way for despair.

"Remus," Sirius sighed, tears coming to his eyes. They had talked about this for years even when they started dating at Hogwarts but he never believed him.

"But are you sure that your child would become a werewolf?" Dumbledore asked in a calm voice that had Remus looking up at him with an almost hopeful expression.

"Exactly," Bill said frowning, "I know you were physically alternated after you were bitten, but were the genes that you pass on to your offspring also effected from the transformation?"

"I... I have never found evidence that another werewolf had a child," Remus said.

"So you don't know that this would happen," Sirius said, a light in his eyes. Remus shook his head and he continued to said, "then you should wait to the end of this book to make up your mind."

Remus gave somewhat of a half-nod.

"**Well," said Sophia slowly, "I'm not. I'm pretty sure my father would have wanted to know why you aren't sticking with your own kid, actually."**

"She has a point," Sirius informed his husband (although still very upset with him), who just nodded his head. James would say that.

**Remus' face drained of color. The temperature in the kitchen might have dropped ten degrees. Ron stared around the room as though he had been bidden to memorize it, while Hermione's eyes swiveled backward and forward from Sophia to Remus.**

"**You don't understand," said Remus at last.**

"**Explain, then," said Sophia.**

**Remus swallowed.**

"**I – I made a grave mistake with Sirius. I love him. I will always love him but he has a better future and could have a happier family without me."**

Sirius flinched at that and Remus frowned, he didn't like hurting him, Sirius was his mate after all. Like the book said, he would never stop loving Sirius but Sirius was a healthy, handsome man who could find someone better than him.

"**I see," said Sophia, "so you're just going to dump him and the kid and run off with us?"**

Sirius started laughing at this making a bunch of people look at him weird. Remus was ditching him and their child and he was _laughing._

"I don't see what's so funny!" Molly huffed.

"It's exactly what James would say," Sirius said still smiling. "And let me tell you that James was much better at getting through Remus's thick sulk than I would ever be."

In reality, Sirius was just hoping that Sophia was able to talk some sense into Remus.

**Remus sprang to his feet: His chair toppled over backward, and he glared at them so fiercely that Sophia saw, for the first time ever, she shadow of the wolf upon his human face.**

"**Don't you understand what I've done to my husband and my unborn child? I should never have married him; I've made them both outcasts!"**

**Remus kicked aside the chair he had overturned.**

**And the child – the child –"**

**Remus actually seized handfuls of his own hair; he looked quite deranged.**

"**My kind doesn't usually breed! It will be like me, I am convinced of it – how can I forgive myself, when I knowingly risked passing on my own condition to an innocent child? And if, by some miracle, it is not like me, then it will be better off, a hundred times so, without a father of whom it must always be ashamed!"**

Smack.

Remus eyes watered at the force of the hit that Sirius had given him.

"You have the right to be afraid for our child's health," Sirius said through gritted teeth, "but I will not stand to hear you talk that way about yourself! Nor will I stand by and let you walk from our child because if might be ashamed of you!"

Remus didn't say anything, which Sirius took to mean that he had gotten the point.

"**Remus!" whispered Hermione, tears in her eyes. "Don't say that – how could any child be ashamed of you?"**

"**Oh, I don't know, Hermione," said Sophia. "I'd be pretty ashamed of him."**

**Sophia did not know where her rage was coming from, but it had propelled her to her feet too. Remus looked as though Sophia had hit him.**

"**If the new regime thinks Muggle-borns are bad," Sophia said, "what will they do to a half-werewolf whose father's in the Order? My father died trying to protect my mother and me, and you reckon he'd tell you to abandon your kid to go on an adventure with us?"**

Remus flinched at that knowing again that Sophia was right. James would never have wanted him to leave his family.

"**How – how dare you?" said Remus. "This is not about a desire for – for danger or personal glory – how dare you suggest such a –"**

"**I think you're feeling a bit of a daredevil," Sophia said, "You fancy stepping into Sirius's shoes now that he's on the sidelines and abandoned–"**

"I don't think that's the reason," Remus said, gravely.

"I know," Sophia frowned, "but family is important and you can't leave yours."

Remus nodded his head, but that didn't really mean anything for him. He didn't have a family yet to leave, though he felt as if with one decision he could lose his only chance of having one forever.

"**Sophia, no!" Hermione begged her, but she continued to glare into Remus' livid face.**

"**I'd never have believed this," Sophia said. "The man who taught me to fight dementors – a coward."**

Sirius flinched at that, you never call Remus a coward, especially when he wasn't thinking rationally.

**Remus drew his wand so fast that Sophia had barely reached for her own; there was a loud bang and she felt herself flying backward as if punched;**

"Remus!" Molly glared at him.

"I'm sorry," Remus said looking guilty, he didn't like thinking that he cursed Sophia, who was the closest thing he had to a child... though that won't be true for much longer.

"Well, I really wish you didn't curse my goddaughter, but otherwise I think that went well," Sirius said.

"What are you talking about?" Bill questioned. "All that seemed to happen was making Remus angry."

"Nah, Sophia made Remus see some reason," Sirius said. "I don't think your dad could have done a better job on handling that situation," he added smiling at Sophia.

Remus gave an odd smile, or at least Sophia thought it was supposed to be a smile, "I think I might have come to you so you would chew me out like this."

Sirius frowned at that. His friend didn't really have anyone to go to anymore when he was feeling down like this. James and Lily were gone and Sirius would be the cause of the problem. Yes, it was likely that he would go to Sophia, for she was the only link to Remus's past available to him now.

**as she slammed into the kitchen wall and slid to the floor, she glimpsed the tail of Remus' cloak disappearing around the door.**

"**Remus, Remus, come back!" Hermione cried, but Remus did not respond. A moment later they heard the front door slam.**

"**Sophia!" wailed Hermione. "How could you?"**

"**It was easy," said Sophia. She stood up; she could feel a lump swelling where her head had hit the wall. She was still so full of anger she was shaking.**

"**Don't look at me like that!" she snapped at Hermione.**

"**Don't you start on her!" snarled Ron.**

"**No – no – we mustn't fight!" said Hermione, launching herself between them.**

"That's unusual," George said, trying to break some of the tension in the room. "Phia's the one that usually stopping the fights."

"**You shouldn't have said that stuff to Remus," Ron told Sophia.**

"**He had it coming to him," said Sophia. Broken images were racing each other through her mind: Emmeline falling through the veil as she pushed Sirius out of the way; Dumbledore suspended, broken, in midair; a flash of green light and her mother's voice, begging for mercy . . .**

Everyone grimace at these memories, even though two of them have yet to happen for them.

"**Parents," said Sophia, "shouldn't leave their kids unless – unless they've got to."**

"Does that mean that you think of Sirius and Dumbledore as your parents?" Ron asked.

"Er..." Sophia said, she definitely felt that way about Sirius, but she wasn't sure how she felt about Dumbledore. She supposed, if anything Dumbledore was more like a grandfather. "Sort of."

Dumbledore looked touched by this admission, whereas Sirius said, "what do you mean sort of."

Sophia rolled her eyes at her godfathers attempt at humor, or at least that's what she thought Sirius was doing.

"**Sophia –" said Hermione, stretching out a consoling hand, but she shrugged it off and walked away, her eyes on the fire Hermione had conjured. She had once spoken to Remus out of that fireplace, seeking reassurance about her father, James, and Remus had consoled her.**

"And when did that happened?" Molly questioned, it sounded dangerous.

"In the future," Sophia answered, wondering why she needed to be reassured in concerns with her dad.

**Now Remus' tortured white face seemed to swim in the air before her. She felt a sickening surge of remorse. Neither Ron nor Hermione spoke, but Sophia felt sure that they were looking at each other behind her back, communicating silently.**

"I didn't know we could do that!" Ron said, looking at Hermione pointedly.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron's comment.

"I guess we're just going to have to keep working on that," Ron sighed.

**She turned around and caught them turning hurriedly away from each other.**

"**I know I shouldn't have called him a coward."**

"**No, you shouldn't," said Ron at once.**

"**But he's acting like one."**

"**All the same . . ." said Hermione.**

"**I know," said Sophia. "But if it makes him go back to Sirius, it'll be worth it, won't it?"**

"I'm sure it has worked," Sirius said hopefully, for Sophia was looking at Remus a little warily. The werewolf nodded his head in agreement with that.

**She could not keep the plea out of her voice. Hermione looked sympathetic, Ron uncertain. Sophia looked down at her feet, thinking of her father. Would James have backed Sophia in what she had said to Remus, or would he have been angry at how his daughter had treated his old friend?**

"I think he would have been angry that you didn't curse him actually," Sirius said, chuckling. "After the last thing he said he deserved a little hexing."

**The silent kitchen seemed to hum with the shock of the recent scene and with Ron and Hermione's unspoken reproaches. The ****_Daily Prophet _****Remus had brought was still lying on the table, Sophia's own face staring up at the ceiling from the front page. She walked over to it and sat down, opened the paper at random, and pretended to read. She could not take in the words; her mind was still too full of the encounter with Remus. She was sure that Ron and Hermione had resumed their silent communications on the other side of the **_**Prophet**_**. She turned a page loudly, and Dumbledore's name leapt out at her. It was a moment or two before she took in the meaning of the photograph, which showed a family group. Beneath the photograph were the words: **_**The Dumbledore family, left to right: Albus; Percival, holding newborn Ariana; Kendra, and Aberforth**_**.**

Dumbledore sighed; he wasn't looking forward to more chapters that involved his family.

**Her attention caught, Sophia examined the picture more carefully. Dumbledore's father, Percival, was a good-looking man with eyes that seemed to twinkle even in this faded old photograph.**

Dumbledore frowned, remember his father that he didn't get to see after he was eleven.

**The baby, Ariana, was a little longer than a loaf of bread and no more distinctive-looking. The mother, Kendra, had jet black hair pulled into a high bun. Her face had a carved quality about it. Sophia thought of photos of Native Americans she'd seen as she studied her dark eyes, high cheekbones, and straight nose, formally composed above a high-necked silk gown. Albus and Aberforth wore matching lacy collared jackets and had identical, shoulder-length hairstyles. Albus looked several years older, but otherwise the two boys looked very alike, for this was before Albus' nose had been broken and before he started wearing glasses.**

**The family looked quite happy and normal, smiling serenely up out of the newspaper. Baby Ariana's arm waved vaguely out of her shawl. Sophia looked above the picture and saw the headline:**

**_EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT FROM UPCOMING_**

**_BIOGRAPHY OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE_**

**_by Rita Skeeter_**

**Thinking it could hardly make her feel any worse than she already did, Sophia began to read:**

"I won't be so sure Soph," Hermione said frowning, "you have been taking everything you learn about Dumbledore pretty hard, I think it would be better."

"And when have I ever left will enough alone?" Sophia questioned with a grin.

**_Proud and haughty, Kendra Dumbledore could not bear to remain in Mould-on-the-Wold after her husband Percival's well-publicized arrest and imprisonment in Azkaban._**

Dumbledore frowned at this. His mother had taken this upon herself to look that way to everyone because she wanted to shield his sister. She had never cared what others had thought of her.

**_She therefore decided to uproot the family and relocate to Godric's Hollow, the village that was later to gain fame as the scene of Sophia Potter's strange escape from You-Know-Who._**

**_Like Mould-on-the-Wold, Godric's Hollow was home to a number of Wizarding families, but as Kendra knew none of them, she would be spared the curiosity about her husband's crime she had faced in her former village. By repeatedly rebuffing the friendly advances of her new Wizarding neighbors, she soon ensured that her family was left well alone._**

"**_Slammed the door in my face when I went around to welcome her with a batch of homemade Cauldron Cakes," says Bathilda Bagshot._**

"Who would slam the door in someone's face if they had Cauldron Cakes?" Ron asked incredulously.

"I assure you my mother had a reason for that," Dumbledore said softly.

"Sorry, sir," Ron ears went red as he bowed his head.

"**_The first year they were there I only ever saw the two boys. Wouldn't have known there was a daughter if I hadn't been picking Plangentines by moonlight the winter after they moved in, and saw Kendra leading Ariana out into the back garden. Walked her round the lawn once, keeping a firm grip on her, then took her back inside. Didn't know what to make of it."_**

**_It seems that Kendra thought the move to Godric's Hollow was the perfect opportunity to hide Ariana once and for all, something she had probably been planning for years. The timing was significant. Ariana was barely seven years old when she vanished from sight, and seven is the age by which most experts agree that magic will have revealed itself, if present._**

"That's not even true," Hermione muttered to herself so only Ron and Sophia could hear her.

Dumbledore was thinking, however, about the fact that Rita was correct in saying that they had gone to Godric's Hollow to hide Ariana, though of course she was wrong about her not showing any magical signs. So very wrong about that.

**_Nobody now alive remembers Ariana ever demonstrating even the slightest sign of magical ability. It seems clear, therefore, that Kendra made a decision to hide her daughter's existence rather than suffer the shame of admitting that she had produced a Squib. Moving away from the friends and neighbors who knew Ariana would, of course, make imprisoning her all the easier. The tiny number of people who henceforth knew of Ariana's existence could be counted upon to keep the secret, including her two brothers, who had deflected awkward questions with the answer their mother had taught them. "My sister is too frail for school."_**

**_Next week: Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts – the Prizes and the Pretense._**

Everyone again looked at Dumbledore at the end of this, he had said that his sister wasn't a Squib, but something clearly was going on here. Something, however, none of them were comfortable enough ask details about from the grave looking headmaster.

**Sophia had been wrong: What she had read had indeed made her feel worse. She looked back at the photograph of the apparently happy family. Was it true? How could she find out?**

Sophia scowled at this but she wasn't going to apologize again, Dumbledore knew she was sorry and bring it up will only make her headmaster graver.

**She wanted to go to Godric's Hollow, even if Bathilda was in no fit state to talk to her: she wanted to visit the place where she and Dumbledore had both lost loved ones. She was in the process of lowering the newspaper, to ask Ron's and Hermione's opinions, when a deafening **_**crack **_**echoed around the kitchen.**

"Oh joy, Kreacher is back," Sirius said sarcastically, but he did look interested to see what happens next.

**For the first time in three days Sophia had forgotten all about Kreacher. Her immediate thought was that Remus had burst back into the room, and for a split second, she did not take in the mass of struggling limbs that had appeared out of thin air right beside her chair. She hurried to her feet as Kreacher disentangled himself and, bowing low to Sophia, croaked, "Kreacher has returned with the thief Mundungus Fletcher, Mistress."**

**Mundungus scrambled up and pulled out his wand; Hermione, however, was too quick for him.**

"_**Expelliarmus!**_**"**

"Good job, Hermione," Ginny said, she didn't like to think what Mundungus would do to try to escape.

**Mundungus's wand soared into the air, and Hermione caught it. Wild-eyed, Mundungus dived for the stairs. Ron rugby-tackled him and Mundungus hit the stone floor with a muffled ****_crunch_.**

"What's rugby?" Ron questioned.

"Er... it a Muggle sport," Hermione said. "The meaning in this sentence is pretty clear when you add tackle to it."

"**What?" he bellowed, writhing in his attempts to free himself from Ron's grip. "Wha've I done? Setting a bleedin' 'house-elf on me, what are you playing at, wha've I done, lemme go, lemme go, of –"**

Several people started to chuckle when _'setting a bleedin' 'house-elf on me'_ was said.

"**You're not in much of a position to make threats," said Sophia. She threw aside the newspaper, crossed the kitchen in a few strides, and dropped to her knees beside Mundungus, who stopped struggling and looked terrified. Ron got up, panting, and watched as Sophia pointed her wand deliberately at Mundungus's nose. Mundungus stank of stale sweat and tobacco smoke. His hair was matted and his robes stained.**

"**Kreacher apologizes for the delay in bringing the thief, Mistress," croaked the elf. "Fletcher knows how to avoid capture, has many hidey-holes and accomplices. Nevertheless, Kreacher cornered the thief in the end."**

Sirius blinked at that in shock. Kreacher was speaking to Sophia as if the elf actually liked her. He thought that Kreacher might be nicer but he didn't except things to turn around that fast. Would all it really take to get Kreacher to act civilly is say a few kind words?

"**You've done really well, Kreacher," said Sophia, and the elf bowed low.**

"**Right, we've got a few questions for you," Sophia told Mundungus, who shouted at once.**

"**I panicked, okay? I never wanted to come along, no offense, mate, but I never volunteered to die for you, an' that was bleedin' You-Know-Who come flying at me, anyone woulda got outta there. I said all along I didn't wanna do it –"**

"Bloody coward!" Tonks hissed bitterly.

"**For your information, none of the rest of us Disapparated," said Hermione.**

"**Well, you're a bunch of bleedin' 'eroes then, aren't you, but I never pretended I was up for killing meself –"**

"**We're not interested in why you ran out on Mad-Eye," said Sophia, moving her wand a little closer to Mundungus's baggy, bloodshot eyes. "We already knew you were an unreliable bit of scum."**

"**Well then, why the 'ell am I being 'unted down by 'ouse-elves? Or is this about them goblets again? I ain't got none of 'em left, or you could 'ave 'em –"**

"What's this about goblets?" George asked but no one knew what this was about either.

"**It's not about the goblets either, although you're getting warmer," said Sophia. "Shut up and listen."**

**It felt wonderful to have something to do, someone of whom she could demand some small portion of truth.**

"Well if you want the truth, I don't think Mundungus is where you should start looking," Sirius said.

"I think I meant get information out of him," Sophia said.

**Sophia's wand was now so close to the bridge of Mundungus's nose that Mundungus had gone cross-eyed trying to keep it in view.**

"**When you cleaned out this house of anything valuable," Sophia began, but Mundungus interrupted her again.**

"**Sirius never cared about any of the junk –"**

"He has a point," Sirius said, "Mundungus or anyone else for that matter could take everything out of Grimmauld Place for all I cared."

**There was the sound of pattering fee, a blaze of shining copper, an echoing clang, and a shriek of agony; Kreacher had taken a run at Mundungus and hit him over the head with a saucepan.**

Everyone in the room without exception smiled at that at least and most people laughed out right.

"Kreacher on the other hand, does care," Sirius actually laughed, he didn't know the elf had it in him.

"You know, I don't know if I can despise the little guy if he's going to go around hitting people on the head with a saucepan!" George said, laughing, too.

"**Call 'im off, call 'im off, 'e should be locked up!" screamed Mundungus, cowering as Kreacher raised the heavy-bottomed pan again.**

This caused more laughter from the room.

"**Kreacher, no!" shouted Sophia.**

**Kreacher's thin arms trembled with the weight of the pan, still held aloft.**

"**Perhaps just one more, Mistress Sophia, for luck?"**

Other roar of laughter from everyone.

"Damn you Kreacher, I wish you could have been this funny before," Sirius mutter, gasping for air as he laughed. He couldn't separate the elf from his childhood memories that were tortures for him, but it was impossible not to see the funny side of this situation.

**Ron laughed.**

"**We need him conscious, Kreacher, but if he needs persuading, you can do the honors," said Sophia. "And you don't have to call me Mistress," **

"**Thank you very much, Miss Sophia," said Kreacher with a bow, and he retreated a short distance, his great pale eyes still fixed upon Mundungus with loathing.**

**Sophia shrugged she preferred Miss Sophia to Mistress. **

"**When you stripped this house of all the valuables you could find," Sophia began again, "you took a bunch of stuff from the kitchen cupboard. There was a locket there." Sophia's mouth was suddenly dry: She could sense Ron and Hermione's tension and excitement too. "What did you do with it?"**

"**Why?" asked Mundungus. "Is it valuable?"**

"**You've still got it!" cried Hermione.**

"**No, he hasn't," said Ron shrewdly. "He's wondering whether he should have asked more money****for it."**

"Strewed observation, and likely true," Dumbledore frowned, he didn't like the thought of a Horcrux being lose like that, able to effect the person that was wearing it.

"**More?" said Mundungus. "That wouldn't have been effing difficult . . .bleedin' gave it away, di'n' I? No choice."**

"**What do you mean?"**

"**I was selling in Diagon Alley and she come up to me and asks if I've got a license for trading in magical artifacts. Bleedin' snoop. She was gonna fine me, but she took a fancy to the locket an' told me she'd take it and let me off that time, and to fink meself lucky."**

"**Who was this woman?" asked Sophia.**

"**I dunno, some Ministry hag."**

"Well that definitely narrows it down," Sirius rolled his eyes.

However, the back of Sophia hand tingled, or perhaps she was just imagining that, for her thoughts went straight to Umbridge.

**Mundungus considered for a moment, brow wrinkled.**

"**Little woman. Bow on top of 'er head."**

**He frowned and then added, "Looked like a toad."**

"Damnit!" Sophia hissed, sometimes she hated being right.

"I can't believe it!" Hermione said looking sick. "Of all the people...!"

"It's not really that surprising though," Ron said, "selling out doing the right thing because she takes a fancy to a necklace... stupid toad."

"Still, I really rather never to have to deal with b... er... toad again," Sophia groaned, she was sure that they were going to get rid of Umbridge by the end of the year somehow, seeing as she was the Defense teacher, and the prospect of seeing her again wasn't appealing in the least.

"Well, maybe we'll get to curse her or rough her up a bit," Ron suggested.

"Hm... that might be interesting," Sophia said, with an evil smirk that slightly scared George but he still continued to hold her hand.

**Sophia dropped her wand: It hit Mundungus on the nose and shot red sparks into his eyebrows, which ignited.**

"Aw... poor Mundungus," Fred said, chuckling.

"_**Aquamenti!**_**" screamed Hermione, and a jet of water streamed from her wand, engulfing a spluttering and choking Mundungus.**

**Sophia looked up and saw her own shock reflected in Ron's and Hermione's faces. The scars on the back of her right hand seemed to be tingling again.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Fred said, "And a tingling scar... that's never good."

Sophia didn't say anything, but she was thinking a tingling scar was a hell of a lot better than one that burns and sometimes hurts so bad that rendered her incapable of moving.

Fred then handing the book to George without even asking who wanted to read next. However, before he could even start reading there was a pop and a note landed on the table.

"It's for you Remus," Sirius said as he tried to unfold the note, "and apparently I can't even open the damn thing."

Remus took the note, having a feeling what it was going to be about, but curious as to how it was going to be handled, he read;

_Dear Remus,_

_Or I supposed I should say dear Dad,_

_I just wanted to let you know that you do not have anything to worry about. I know that you are afraid that I will be like you and that you would be worrying about this for the rest of the book. However, I am not a werewolf, though I have inherited many other qualities from you, most of which I think are good. Please, do not give up on Dad and our family because you think that you are too dangerous. I can't say anymore, but I hope you keep this in mind while you read the rest of the book._

_Love,_

_LRB (With Help from TKS)_

"So... what did the letter say?" Sirius questioned.

Remus looked at Sirius with a smile and said, "it says that our child isn't going to be a werewolf."

Sirius smiled back at that. "So you're not going to try to avoid me now?"

"Not at the moment I'm not, though I'm sure to have another panic attack about my lycanthropy in the future," Remus said still smiling.

"I've dealt with that for years." Sirius said with a shrug.

"So does that mean I can read now," George questioned and everyone nodded their heads.

* * *

So what do you think about the deaths? Sirius has been spared since the 5th year but what about Remus? Tonks? Fred? Snape? I'm to nice and would let everyone live so I need an opinion on who else besides Dumbledore and Mad-Eye.


	12. Chapter 12: Magic is Might

**Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own.**

* * *

"**Magic is Might," **George read. "Something tells me I'm not going to like that saying."

**As August wore on, the square of unkempt grass in the middle of Grimmauld Place shriveled in the sun until it was brittle and brown. The inhabitants of number twelve were never seen by anyone in the surrounding houses, and nor was number twelve itself.**

"Well that's how it's supposed to be, why are they mentioning this?" Sirius frowned.

"I think there must still be Death Eaters watching the house," Remus frowned.

"I don't like that, but at least they can't see the house," Molly said looking more worried than her words had suggested.

**The muggles who lived in Grimmauld Place had long since accepted the amusing mistake in the numbering that had caused number eleven to sit beside number thirteen.**

"Yes, that is highly amusing, much better than most of our jokes," Fred scoffed.

"I was thinking the same thing," Ginny smirked at her brother. "But it was big of you to admit it yourself."

Fred made a face at his sister but didn't say any more to that.

**And yet the square was now attracting a trickle of visitors who seemed to find the anomaly most intriguing. Barely a day passed without one or two people arriving in Grimmauld Place with no other purpose, or so it seemed, than to lean against the railings facing numbers eleven and thirteen, watching the join between the two houses. The lurkers were never the same two days running, although they all seemed to share a dislike for normal clothing. Most of the Londoners who passed them were used to eccentric dressers and took little notice, though occasionally one of them might glance back, wondering why anyone would wear cloaks in this heat.**

"They really should be more careful than that," McGonagall muttered, "they're drawing too much attention to themselves."

"I don't think they care that much," Snape said, "it will be only a matter of time before Voldemort makes a move against the Muggles so he can enslave them."

**The watchers seemed to be gleaning little satisfaction from their vigil. Occasionally one of them started forward excitedly, as if they had seen something interesting at last, only to fall back looking disappointed.**

**On the first day of September**

Hermione let out a sigh without thinking about it. That was one day she was really looking forward to. The first day of her last year of school, hoping to be Head Girl. It was hard to believe that she wouldn't be going, but looking at Sophia she knew that she never had a choice. She would never let her go on a mission this dangerous alone. Besides, she wouldn't have been able to go even if she wasn't with Sophia, because of that ridiculous Muggle-Born Registration Act.

**there were more people lurking in the square than ever before. Half a dozen men in long cloaks stood silent and watchful, gazing as ever at houses eleven and thirteen, but the thing for which they were waiting still appeared elusive.**

"Did they actually except us to go to school?" Ron scoffed. "That we would be stupid enough to just show up at King's Cross Station?"

"Ron, we've learned a long time ago that Death Eaters have never been the smartest kids on the block," Fred said with a smirk.

It only widened when Draco and Snape sneered at him.

**As evening drew in, bringing with it an unexpected gust of chilly rain for the first time in weeks, there occurred one of those inexplicable moments when they appeared to have seen something interesting.**

Molly gasped, "You must be going in or out of the house then!"

"Don't worry Molly, dear," Arthur said in his soothing voice. "They're not actually being seen."

"I know, but it close," Molly said and then looked at the trio, "you need to be more careful!"

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley," Sophia and Hermione answered as Ron rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Why does it have to be my own son that's inconsiderate," Molly groaned, albeit fondly.

**The man with the twisted face**

All fondness gone, Molly face because a cross between furious and forlorn needing no more description to know who this man was. Arthur wrapped his arms around his wife, giving her support.

**pointed and his closest companion, a podgy, pallid man, started forward, but a moment later they had relaxed into their previous state of inactivity, looking frustrated and disappointed.**

**Meanwhile, inside number twelve, Sophia had just entered the hall. She had nearly lost her balance as she Apparated onto the top step just outside the front door, and thought that the Death Eaters might have caught a glimpse of her momentarily exposed elbow. Shutting the front door carefully behind him, she pulled off the Invisibility Cloak, draped it over her arm, and hurried along the gloomy hallway toward the door that led to the basement, a stolen copy of the ****_Daily Prophet _****clutched in her hand.**

**The usual low whisper of "****_Severus Snape_****" greeted her, the chill wind swept her, and her tongue rolled up for a moment.**

"That's annoying, it happens every time you come in," Fred grumbled.

"I suppose," Tonks said. "It's a lot easier and stronger that way. If he tried to make it recognized people that have come there already then someone using Polyjuice Potion could get in without having to face the charms."

"**I didn't kill you," she said, once it had unrolled, then held her breath as the dusty jinx-figure exploded. She waited until she was halfway down the stairs to the kitchen, out of earshot of Mrs.****Black and clear of the dust cloud, before calling, "I've got news, and you won't like it."**

"You sure do know how to cheer everyone up, Sophia," Ginny informed her but just got a cheeky grin in response.

**The kitchen was almost unrecognizable. Every surface now shone;**

"What?" Molly gasped in shock. She had tried her hardest to make the place look clean and all she managed was clean enough. "How did that happen?"

"Kreacher must be actually doing his duties," Sirius said, looking mildly surprised himself.

Hermione, however, didn't seem to think that this was a good development. The poor elf shouldn't be slaving away in the kitchen after everything that he's been through.

Ron rolled his eyes when she wasn't looking as if knowing what she was thinking.

**Copper pots and pans had been burnished to a rosy glow; the wooden tabletop gleamed; the goblets and plates already laid for dinner glinted in the light from a merrily blazing fire, on which a cauldron was simmering. Nothing in the room, however, was more dramatically different than the house-elf who now came hurrying toward Sophia, dressed in a snowy-white towel, his ear hair as clean and fluffy as cotton wool, Regulus' locket bouncing on his thin chest.**

At this, Hermione smiled, happy at least that the elf seemed to be in a much better condition than he was even in the last chapter.

"**Shoes off, if you please, Miss Sophia, and hands washed before dinner," croaked Kreacher, seizing the Invisibility Cloak and slouching off to hang it on a hook on the wall, beside a number of old-fashioned robes that had been freshly laundered.**

"**What's happened?" Ron asked apprehensively. He and Hermione had been pouring over a sheaf of scribbled notes and hand drawn maps that littered the end of the long kitchen table,**

Sophia chuckled at this and everyone looked at her curiously.

"Sorry, I just remember the first time I got to Grimmauld Place and Mr. Weasley and Bill were looking at maps or something like it," she explained. "It's odd that we would be doing the same thing just a few years later."

**but now they watched Sophia as she strode toward them and threw down the newspaper on top of their scattered parchment.**

**A large picture of a familiar, hook-nosed, black-haired man stared up at them all, beneath a headline that read:**

"Argh, we don't want to hear about the greasy haired slimeball," Sirius made a face. "Well, unless it's saying that he's getting arrested, but I doubt it with how this book is going."

Snape didn't even bother to respond, knowing that was what Black had wanted him to do. Watching Black scowl at him was proof enough that his silence had worked just as well as a sneer would have.

**SEVERUS SNAPE CONFIRMED AS HOGWARTS HEADMASTER**

"Argh... that's worse than I thought it would be," Sirius groaned.

Snape looked odd about hearing this. He knew it would feel wrong to be headmaster, but in this situation it was is duty to protect the students as much as he could from Voldemort and whatever Death Eaters he was sure to put inside the school.

"How can they make you Headmaster after you were accused of killing Dumbledore... even if they believe that Sophia might have done it now, wouldn't people be afraid to have you as the headmaster?" Tonks asked.

"It might be a little suspicious, however, Severus, as the Potion Master of Hogwarts for the last fifteen years, would be a legitimate choice to becoming the next Headmaster," Dumbledore said.

"I would have thought that McGonagall would be the best choice," Fred said.

"I do not have any aspiration to becoming the Headmistress, I enjoy teaching too much," McGonagall said, though she looked as if she wasn't sure if Snape becoming Headmaster such a good thing.

"I would also like to add that Voldemort would want someone, I wouldn't say trust, but at least count on to run things the way he wanted," Dumbledore said.

"And by making this Death Eater the Headmaster, he'll get that," Sirius said point at Snape.

Dumbledore nodded, "which I think is a good thing, for Severus will protect the students as much as he can. This is not a good situation, but I'm glad that at least something has gone our way."

Sirius wasn't sure if he really believed that Snape was on their side or if Dumbledore was putting too much faith in him. So he wasn't altogether comforted by what Dumbledore had just said.

"**No!" said Ron and Hermione loudly.**

**Hermione was quickest; she snatched up the newspaper and began to read the accompanying story out loud.**

"**_Severus Snape, long-standing Potions master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and wizardry, was today appointed headmaster in the most important of several staffing changes at the ancient school. Following the resignation of the previous Muggle Studies teacher, Alecto Carrow will take over the post while her brother, Amycus, fills the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."_**

"Oh crap!" several people said.

"I hope you really can keep those bastards in line!" Sirius turned to Snape. He didn't like to think of what kind of havoc those two will get into at the school.

"It looks like I'm not going to have a very safe year either," Ginny observed, which only caused her mum to look at her with apprehension. However, Ginny didn't pay this any attentions, she was wondering how bad it was going to be and what she was going to do to rebel against this. For she knew that she wasn't about to lie down and take whatever it was that the Death Eaters threw at her.

"**_I welcome the opportunity to uphold our finest Wizarding traditions and values –'_****Like committing murder and cutting off people's ears, I suppose! Snape, headmaster! Snape in Dumbledore's study – Merlin's pants!" she shrieked, making both Sophia and Ron jump.**

"Merlin's pants," the four Weasleys still in school all said, laughing.

"I never would have expected you to say that," Ron chuckled.

"Well this is serious," Hermione said, blushing slightly.

**She leapt up from the table and hurtled from the room, shouting as she went, "I'll be back in a minute!"**

"Argh, what did you find out this time?" Ron said exasperated.

"Er... I don't know?" Hermione said.

Dumbledore, however, seemed to think he knew what she noticed. It was quite astute of her if it was what he was thinking.

"'**Merlin's pants'?" repeated Ron, looking amused. "She must be upset." He pulled the newspaper toward him and perused the article about Snape.**

"**The other teachers won't stand for this, McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout all know the truth, they know how Dumbledore died. They won't accept Snape as headmaster. And who are these Carrows?"**

"Unfortunately Mr. Weasley, we won't have much of a choice but to accept this," McGonagall said gravely. "I, and I know my colleagues will agree, would not allow my students to be in more danger than they have to be, and the only way we could protect them is by staying at Hogwarts. However, unless Albus has informed me of Severus duplicity to this extent, which I don't believe he will," here she glared at Dumbledore and he bowed his head slightly, "I would not make it easy on him."

"I wouldn't expect any less from you Minerva," Snape said, though he didn't look pleased by that.

"**Death Eaters," said Sophia. "There are pictures of them inside. They were at the top of the tower when Snape killed Dumbledore, so it's all friends together. And," Sophia went on bitterly, drawing up a chair, "I can't see that the other teachers have got any choice but to stay. If the Ministry and Voldemort are behind Snape it'll be a choice between staying and teaching, or a nice few years in Azkaban – and that's if they're lucky. I reckon they'll stay to try and protect the students."**

"That's better, Potter," McGonagall said, having not been pleased by her first explanations. She was going to stay because it was the right things to do not because she was afraid of being imprisoned.

**Kreacher came bustling to the table with a large curcen in his hands, and ladled out soup into pristine bowls, whistling between his teeth as he did so.**

Everyone that knew Kreacher looked at the book in disbelief at the descriptions. Who knew the elf could whistle?

"**Thanks, Kreacher," said Sophia, flipping over the ****_Prophet _****so as not to have to look at Snape's face.**

"Why would you want to?" George said with a chuckle ignoring the Potions Master's glare.

**"Well, at least we know exactly where Snape is now."**

**She began to spoon soup into her mouth. The quality of Kreacher's cooking had improved dramatically ever since she had been given Regulus' locket: Today's French onion was as good as Sophia had ever tasted.**

"That is because you have not had my mother's French onion soup," Fleur said. "I don't think anyone in the world makes it better than her."

"I would definitely like to test that theory," Sirius said to her, smiling.

"**There are still a load of Death Eaters watching this house," she told Ron as she ate, "more than usual. It's like they're hoping we'll march out carrying our school trunks and head off for the Hogwarts Express."**

**Ron glanced at his watch.**

"**I've been thinking about that all day. It left nearly six hours ago. Weird, not being on it, isn't it?"**

**In her mind's eye Sophia seemed to see the scarlet steam engine as she and Ron had once followed it by air,**

Fred and George sniggered as Hermione, Molly and Snape glared at Sophia and Ron. The two in questioned gave sheepish smiles.

"How did you see it from the air?" Sirius questioned, he had a feeling this was a good story.

"Er... well, we kind of flew there in a car in my second year," Sophia said.

Sirius looked at his goddaughter for ten seconds, his mouth hanging open, before he exclaimed, "BRILLIANT! That has got to be a Hogwarts legend."

"Why would you do that Sophia?" Remus asked, he didn't look as pleased as Sirius was, but not as angry as Molly and Hermione were. "Please tell me it wasn't because you fancied a joyride."

"Of course not," Sophia said. "Why would you even think that?"

"Because it's what your father and this git would have done," Remus said pointing a Sirius, who was nodding his head in agreement with everything Remus had said.

"No, I went because Dobby sealed the barrier at King's Cross Station and we couldn't get through it," Sophia started to explain.

"Didn't you get a running start when you crashed into the wall?" Fred felt like it was his duty to add.

"Yeah," Sophia frowned at him as the room chuckled. "Anyways, we thought we were stranded there and I didn't know how we were going to get to school."

"And then I suggest that we take my Dad's flying car," Ron said.

"You had a flying car, Arthur," Sirius said, smiling, he never realized that he shared something in common with the older man. Arthur nodded his head, though he looked worried. He had every right to, seeing as Molly was glaring at her husband at the moment.

"Sophia, you do realize that you could have just sent Hedwig..." Remus started to say, but Sophia cut him off.

"Yeah, that's what McGonagall said, but honestly I didn't think about that," Sophia sighed.

"It's okay Sophia; you got a brilliant story out of it!" Sirius said to her.

"And that's definitely the important thing," George chuckled before he started reading again.

**shimmering between fields and hills, a rippling scarlet caterpillar. She was sure Ginny, Neville, and Luna were sitting together at this moment, perhaps wondering where she, Ron, and Hermione were, or debating how best to undermine Snape's new regime.**

"You better not be!" Molly hissed at her daughter.

Ginny gave her mum the most innocent expression she could give without looking too guilty; all the while knowing that she was doing exactly what Sophia thought.

"**They nearly saw me coming back in just now," Sophia said, "I landed badly on the top step, and the Cloak slipped."**

"**I do that every time. Oh, here she is," Ron added, craning around in his seat to watch Hermione reentering the kitchen. "And what in the name of Merlin's most baggy Y Fronts was that about?"**

"Ronald language!" Molly snapped.

"You didn't get angry with Hermione when she said something!" Ron grumbled at his mother.

"Well, Hermione is not my child," Molly said and then added, "and I was too shocked to hear that from her to be able to say anything."

The Weasleys all laughed at this as Hermione blushed slightly again.

"**I remembered this," Hermione panted.**

**She was carrying a large, framed picture, which she now lowered to the floor before seizing her small, beaded bag from the kitchen sideboard. Opening it, she proceeded to force the painting inside and despite the fact that it was patently too large to fit inside the tiny bag, within a few seconds it had vanished, like so much ease, into the bag's capacious depths.**

"**Phineas Nigellus,"**

"Oh," Sirius said. "Good thinking Hermione."

"I don't get it?" Charlie questioned.

"Phineas was a Headmaster at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said. "He..."

"The least popular Headmaster in Hogwarts history," Sirius felt he had to add.

Dumbledore smiled at Sirius before he continued with his explanation, "there is another portrait of Phineas in my office at the moment, though in this book it will be Severus's office. A portrait that is able to travel between any other portrait of his, so you can see how that could be potentially dangerous to Sophia and the others. It was nicely spotted Miss Granger."

**Hermione explained as she threw the bag onto the kitchen table with the usual sonorous, clanking crash.**

"**Sorry?" said Ron, but Sophia understood. The painted image of Phineas Nigellus Black was able ****to travel between his portrait in Grimmauld Place and the one that hung in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts: the circular cower-top room where Snape was no doubt sitting right now, in triumphant possession of Dumbledore's collection of delicate, silver magical instruments, the stone Pensieve, the Sorting Hat and, unless it had been moved elsewhere, the sword of Gryffindor.**

"**Snape could send Phineas Nigellus to look inside this house for him," Hermione explained to Ron as she resumed her seat. "But let him try it now, all Phineas Nigellus will be able to see is the inside of my handbag."**

"**Good thinking!" said Ron, looking impressed.**

"**Thank you," smiled Hermione, pulling her soup toward her. "So, Sophia, what else happened today?"**

"**Nothing," said Sophia. "Watched the Ministry entrance for seven hours. No sign of her. Saw your dad though, Ron. He looks fine."**

"You're watching the Ministry?" Molly questioned. "Why?"

"Er... well, Umbridge has the locket," Sophia said frowning. "Evidently she's still at the Ministry."

Sophia sunk into her chair a little when all the adults looked at her like she was crazy.

"Don't you realize that the Ministry has got to be the most dangerous place for you to go?" Molly demanded.

"What else can I do?" Sophia questioned after she paused to think for a moment. "I have to find the Horcruxes, and this is the only clue I have."

There was a general groan at this as everyone realized that she had a point and they couldn't see what else she could do.

**Ron nodded his appreciation of this news. The had agreed that it was far too dangerous to try and communicate with Mr. Weasley while he walked in and out of the Ministry, because he was always surrounded by other Ministry workers.**

Arthur understood this of course, but at the same time he knew it would have been nice to know that Ron and his two best friends where okay and safe. Even more, he knew Molly would love to hear that.

**It was, however, reassuring to catch these glimpses of him, even if he did look very strained and anxious.**

"**Dad always told us most Ministry people use the Floo Network to get to work," Ron said. "That's why we haven't seen Umbridge, she'd never walk, she'd think she's too important."**

"**And what about that funny old witch and that little wizard in the navy robes?" Hermione asked.**

"**Oh yeah, the bloke from Magical Maintenance," said Ron.**

"**How do you know he works for Magical Maintenance?" Hermione asked, her soup spoon suspended in midair.**

"**Dad said everyone from Magical Maintenance wears navy blue robes."**

"**But you never told us that!"**

**Hermione dropped her spoon and pulled toward her the sheaf of notes and maps that she and Ron had been examining when Sophia had entered the kitchen.**

"Why are you making such a big deal about this?" Ron rolled his eyes.

"Because if we are going to be crazy enough to go into the Ministry when they are trying to arrest Harry and myself, then we need to know every detail possible!" Hermione snapped him.

"**There's nothing in here about navy blue robes, nothing!" she said, flipping feverishly through the pages.**

"**Well, ****does ****it really matter?"**

"**Ron, it ****_all _****matters! If we're going to get into the Ministry and not give ourselves away when they're ****_bound _****to be on the lookout for intruders, every little detail matters! We've been over and over this, I mean, what's the point of all these reconnaissance trips if you aren't even bothering to tell us –"**

"**Blimey, Hermione, I forget one little thing –"**

Severally people started chuckling at this and Sophia gave a loud sigh.

"**You do realize, don't you, that there's probably no more dangerous place in the whole world for us to be right now than the Ministry of –"**

"**I think we should do it tomorrow," said Sophia.**

**Hermione stopped dead, her jaw hanging; Ron choked a little over his soup.**

"Oh dear, you're not rushing things are you?" Molly fretted.

"**Tomorrow?" repeated Hermione. "You aren't serious, Sophia?"**

"**I am," said Sophia. "I don't think we're going to be much better prepared than we are now even if we skulk around the Ministry entrance for another month. The longer we put it off, the farther away that locket could be. There's already a good chance Umbridge has chucked it away; the thing doesn't open."**

"**Unless," said Ron, "she's found a way of opening it and she's now possessed."**

"With most people that would be and bad thing, but I don't think it would make much of difference with her," Sirius said.

"**Wouldn't make any difference to her, she was so evil in the first place," Sophia shrugged.**

"I'm glad you agree with me Prongslet," Sirius chuckled.

**Hermione was biting her lip, deep in thought.**

"**We know everything important," Sophia went on, addressing Hermione. "We know they've ****stopped Apparition in and out of the Ministry; We know only the most senior Ministry members are allowed to connect their homes to the Floo Network now, because Ron heard those two Unspeakables complaining about it. And we know roughly where Umbridge's office is, because of what you heard the bearded bloke saying to his mate –"**

"'_**I'll be up on level one, Dolores wants to see me**_**,'" Hermione recited immediately.**

"**Exactly," said Sophia. "And we know you get in using those funny coins, or tokens, or whatever they are, because I saw that witch borrowing one from her friend –"**

"**But we haven't got any!"**

"**If the plan works, we will have," Sophia continued calmly.**

"Hm... the intel you've have gather isn't so bad," Snape observed. "But you seemed to be leaving a lot to chance and you haven't addressed what you are planning on doing once you're inside the Ministry."

"**I don't know, Sophia, I don't know … There are an awful lot of things that could go wrong, so much relies on chance … "**

"**That'll be true even if we spend another three months preparing," said Sophia. "It's time to act."**

"Unfortunately, if Sophia is anything like her father, there is no way you can make her listen to your caution," Remus sighed, looking at Hermione. "She's already made up her mind."

**She could tell from Ron's and Hermione's faces that they were scared; she was not particularly confident herself, and yet she was sure the time had come to put their plan into operation.**

**They had spent the previous four weeks taking it in turns to don the Invisibility Cloak and spy on the official entrance to the Ministry, which Ron, thanks to Mr. Weasley, had known since childhood.**

"You mean the phone booth you took me to wasn't the main entrance?" Sophia asked Arthur.

"No, that was the visitor entrance," Arthur said. "I wasn't able to take you to the main entrance because guests have to have a month notice."

**They had tailed Ministry workers on their way in, eavesdropped on their conversations, and learned by careful observation which of them could be relied upon to appear, alone, at the same time every day. Occasionally there had been a chance to sneak a ****_Daily Prophet _****out of somebody's briefcase. Slowly they had built up the sketchy maps and notes now stacked in front of Hermione.**

"**All right," said Ron slowly, "let's say we go for it tomorrow … I think it should just be me and Sophia."**

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and Ron shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but he wasn't about to apologize for wanting her to be safe.

"I'm surprised you're still alive after a suggestion like that," Ginny informed her brother, "Hermione looks ready to kill you right now."

"**Oh, don't start that again!" sighed Hermione. "I thought we'd settled this."**

"**It's one thing hanging around the entrances under the Cloak, but this is different. Hermione,"****Ron jabbed a finger at a copy of the ****_Daily Prophet _****dated ten days previously. "You're on the list of Muggle-borns who didn't present themselves for interrogation!"**

"**And you're supposed to be dying of spattergroit at the Burrow! If anyone shouldn't go, it's Sophia; she's got a ten-thousand-Galleon price on her head –"**

"Only Ten Thousand," Said Sophia, offended, "I'd like to thank I'm worth more than that."

"Of course you are Sophia," Remus said with a small smile.

Snape almost smirked, this was the Potter he knew and despised.

"**Fine, I'll stay here," said Sophia. "Let me know if you ever defeat Voldemort, won't you?"**

The younger people in the room laughed at this as the older thought Sophia shouldn't be so flippant with her attitude in regards of Voldemort.

**As Ron and Hermione laughed, pain shot through the scar on Sophia's forehead. Her hand jumped to it. She saw Hermione's eyes narrow, and she tried to pass off the movement by brushing her hair out of her eyes.**

"Idiot," Hermione huffed, as if she would be fooled by such a move.

"**Well, if all three of us go we'll have to Disapparate separately," Ron was saying. "We can't all fit under the Cloak anymore."**

"You were able to fit three people in the same cloak before!" Charlie said.

"You do remember how small Ron was when he first started at Hogwarts don't you," Bill said.

"That's right, he was tiny," Charlie chuckled.

"And he was the biggest of the three," George added. "I'm sure they could have added four more people in the cloak and it would have been fine."

**Sophia's scar was becoming more and more painful. She stood up. At once, Kreacher hurried forward.**

"**Miss has not finished her soup, would miss prefer the savory stew, or else the treacle tart to which Miss is so partial?"**

"How does he know that?" Sophia said, she didn't remember telling anyone what her favorite dessert, or any other kind of food, was.

"House elves pride themselves in finding out everything they can do to please their masters," Sirius said, remembering Kreacher bending over backwards to get Regulus whatever he wanted; whereas he never got anything he wanted.

"**Thanks, Kreacher, but I'll be back in a minute – er – bathroom."**

**Aware that Hermione was watching her suspiciously, Sophia hurried up the stairs to the hall and then to the first landing, where she dashed into the bathroom and bolted the door again. Moaning with pain, she slumped over the black basin with its taps in the form of open-mouthed serpents and closed her eyes ….**

**She was gliding along a twilit street. The buildings on either side of her had high, timbered****gables; they looked like gingerbread houses. She approached one of them, then saw the whiteness of her own long-fingered hand against the door. She knocked. She felt a mounting excitement …**

**The door opened: A laughing woman stood there. Her face fell as she looked into Sophia's face:**

"It's not your face!" Sirius said in a firm voice. "It's Voldemort's!"

"I know that," Sophia said, but she also knew that from the point of view she was in right now, it felt like she was actually there... that she was actually doing whatever it was that Voldemort was doing.

**humor gone, terror replacing it ….**

"**Gregorovitch?" said a high, cold voice.**

**The woman shook her head: She was trying to close the door. A white hand held it steady, prevented her shutting him out …**

"**I want Gregorovitch."**

"_**Er wohnt hier nicht mehr!**_**" she cried, shaking her head. "He no live here! He no live here! I know him not!"**

**Abandoning the attempt to close the door, she began to back away down the dark hall, and Sophia followed, gliding toward her, and her long-fingered hand had drawn her wand.**

Everyone flinched, afraid for this woman. This woman that had done nothing but still was likely to die.

"**where is he?"**

"**_Das weiff ich nicht!_****He move! I know not, I know not!"**

**She raised his hand. She screamed. Two young children came running into the hall. She tried to shield them with her arms. There was a flash of green light –**

More winches, more sorrow for the poor family.

"That's terrible," Molly moaned, she knew it would be but that didn't stop her from crying.

"**Sophia! SOPHIA!"**

**She opened her eyes; she had sunk to the floor. Hermione was pounding on the door again.**

"**Sophia, open up!"**

**She had shouted out, she knew it. She got up and unbolted the door; Hermione toppled inside at once, regained her balance, and looked around suspiciously. Ron was right behind her, looking unnerved as he pointed his wand into the corners of the chilly bathroom.**

"**What were you doing?" asked Hermione sternly.**

"**What d'you think I was doing?" asked Sophia with feeble bravado.**

"**You were yelling your head off!" said Ron.**

"**Oh yeah … I must've dozed off or –"**

"**Sophia, please don't insult our intelligence," said Hermione, taking deep breaths. "We know your scar hurt downstairs, and you're white as a sheet."**

"I don't know why you feel you have to lie," Hermione said.

"Perhaps I wouldn't lie if you didn't make it clear that you wanted be to stop seeing into Voldemort's head," Sophia said a little harsher than she wanted to. She knew what it was like to see into Voldemort's mind, and it wasn't something she was looking forward to happening again. However, it looked like she didn't have much of a choice and she didn't need someone constantly getting on her case about it.

"I'm just worried about you, Sophia," Hermione biting her lips.

"I know... I'm sorry," Sophia said, and she was, she shouldn't have been so short with her.

**Sophia sat down on the edge of the bath.**

"**Fine. I've just seen Voldemort murdering a woman. By now he's probably killed her whole family. And he didn't need to. It was Cedric all over again, they were just ****_there_****…"**

Sophia sighed as the imagines of what happened the last summer filled her mind before she could even try to stop them.

George seemed to know what she was thinking and gripped her tightly to him making her smile up at him.

"**Sophia, you aren't supposed to let this happen anymore!" Hermione cried, her voice echoing through the bathroom. "Dumbledore wanted you to use Occlumency! He thought the connection was dangerous – Voldemort can ****_use _****it, Sophia! What good is it to watch him kill and torture, how can it help?"**

Sophia gritted her teeth at that, how the hell was she supposed to stop this from coming?

"I'm sorry," Hermione sighed softly.

"**Because it means I know what he's doing," said Sophia.**

"**So you're not even going to ****_try _****to shut him out?"**

"**Hermione, I can't. You know I'm lousy at Occlumency. I never got the hang of it."**

"**You never really tried!" she said hotly. "I don't get it, Sophia – do you ****_like _****having this special connection or relationship or what – whatever –"**

Sophia looked at Hermione stiffly and she flinched.

"Sorry," she muttered again.

Hermione knew Sophia didn't like the connection and she had no idea why her book self was saying this.

**She faltered under the look she gave her as she stood up.**

"**Like it?" she said quietly. "Would ****_you _****like it?"**

"**I – no – I'm sorry, Sophia. I just didn't mean –"**

"**I hate it, I hate the fact that he can get inside me, that I have to watch him when he's most dangerous. But I'm going to use it."**

"**Dumbledore –"**

"**Forget Dumbledore. This is my choice, nobody else's. I want to know why he's after Gregorovitch."**

Dumbledore frowned, he was wary of this connection, but he was sure that once again Voldemort didn't know that Sophia was seeing glimpse into his mind. He didn't know how that could be, seeing as Dumbledore knew that Voldemort was now aware of this and could only assume that Voldemort had put up defenses against Sophia that were now not working. If that was true, it wasn't so bad that Sophia knew what Voldemort was planning, but it could still be dangerous.

"**Who?"**

"**He's a foreign wandmaker," said Sophia. "He made Krum's wand and Krum reckons he's brilliant."**

"**But according to you," said Ron, "Voldemort's got Ollivander locked up somewhere. If he's already got a wandmaker, what does he need another one for?"**

"**Maybe he agrees with Krum, maybe he thinks Gregorovitch is better … or else he thinks Gregorovitch will be able to explain what my wand did when he was chasing me, because Ollivander didn't know."**

**Sophia glanced into the cracked, dusty mirror and saw Ron and Hermione exchanging skeptical looks behind her back.**

"**Sophia, you keep talking about what your wand did," said Hermione, "but ****_you _****made it happen! Why are you so determined not to take responsibility for your own power?"**

"Because I didn't do it," Sophia said, "you should know that I don't like taking credit for things I didn't do. I get enough attention; I don't need anything added to it."

"**Because I know it wasn't me! And so does Voldemort, Hermione! We both know what really happened!"**

**They glared at each other; Sophia knew that she had not convinced Hermione and that she was marshaling counterarguments, against both her theory on her wand and the fact that she was permitting himself to see into Voldemort's mind. To her relief, Ron intervened.**

Ron shivered at this, he's never seen Sophia and Hermione fight, well expect the time Hermione got Sophia's firebolt taken away, but this was different. He wasn't sure whose side he should be on. He was now aware that Sophia must go through this all the time, because he and Hermione fight at least once a day and something a whole lot more. Heck, even with the firebolt issue he found a way to be angrier at Hermione than Sophia was.

"**Drop it," he advised her. "It's up to her. And if we're going to the Ministry tomorrow, don't you reckon we should go over the plan?"**

"Wow, Sophia and Hermione fighting and Ron being the reasonable one, the world as gone mad!" Fred exclaimed, causing most of the room to laugh.

**Reluctantly, as the other two could tell, Hermione let the matter rest, though Sophia was quite sure she would attack again at the first opportunity.**

Hermione grimaced at this, she wanted Sophia to be safe and that was the most important thing, but she didn't like that she thought of this as an attack on her.

**In the meantime, they returned to the basement kitchen, where Kreacher served them all stew and treacle tart.**

**They did not get to bed until late that night, after spending hours going over and over their plan until they could recite it, word perfect, to each other. Sophia, who was now sleeping in Sirius's room, lay in bed with her wandlight trained on the old photograph of her father, Sirius, Remus, and Pettigrew, and muttered the plan to herself for another ten minutes. As she extinguished her wand, however, she was thinking not of Polyjuice Potion, Puking Pastilles, or the navy blue robes of Magical Maintenance; she thought of Gregorovitch the wandmaker, and how long he could hope to remain hidden while Voldemort sought him so determinedly.**

"Unfortunately not long," Dumbledore sighed, though he had hopes that it would take longer for Voldemort to find out who got the wand after Gregorovitch.

"Sophia, you should either be sleeping or going over the plan," Tonks said frowning. "You'll have time to think of about your vision tomorrow, right now you have to prepare yourself for the mission."

**Dawn seemed to follow midnight with indecent haste.**

"**You look terrible," was Ron's greeting as he entered the room to wake Sophia.**

"Thanks Ron," Sophia muttered and rolled her eyes good naturally and the sheepish grin that was returned.

"**Not for long," said Sophia, yawning.**

"What's that supposed to mean?" Charlie questioned.

"Seeing as they mentioned Polyjuice Potion a second ago and they're going somewhere that it wouldn't due to be seen, I think Sophia might be looking like someone else soon," Tonks smirked at her friend that was now smiling at her sheepishly.

**They found Hermione downstairs in the kitchen. She was being served coffee and hot rolls by Kreacher and wearing the slightly manic expression that Sophia associated with exam review.**

"Accepting coffee and hot rolls from a house elf, Mione, I'm stunned!" Ron laughed.

"Shut up," Hermione groaned, she could only imagine how worried she had to be that morning.

"**Robes," she said under her breath, acknowledging their presence with a nervous nod and continuing to poke around in her beaded bag, "Polyjuice Potion … Invisibility Cloak … Decoy Detonators … You should each take a couple just in case … Puking Pastilles, Nosebleed Nougat, Extendable Ears …"**

"What are Decoy Detonators?" Ginny questioned, looking at the twins.

The twins looked at each other blankly.

"We're not sure," Fred said.

"But we'd like to find out," George said smiling.

"It will probably be a good invention," Fred added.

"If the trio are using it." George finished.

**They gulped down their breakfast, then set off upstairs, Kreacher bowing them out and promising to have a steak-and-kidney pie ready for them when they returned.**

"**Bless him," said Ron fondly, "and when you think I used to fantasize about cutting off his head and sticking it on the wall."**

"Ronald!" Hermione snapped at him. "That's horrible."

"That's one of my favorite fantasies," Sirius laughed, agreeing with Ron, and Hermione glared at him.

**They made their way onto the front step with immense caution. They could see a couple of puffy-eyed Death Eaters watching the house from across the misty square.**

**Hermione Disapparated with Ron first, then came back for Sophia.**

**After the usual brief spell of darkness and near suffocation, Sophia found herself in the tiny alleyway where the first phase of their plan was scheduled to take place. It was as yet deserted, except for a couple of large bins; the first Ministry workers did not usually appear here until at least eight o'clock.**

"**Right then," said Hermione, checking her watch. "she ought to be here in about five minutes. When I've Stunned her –"**

"**Hermione, we know," said Ron sternly. "And I thought we were supposed to open the door before she got here?"**

**Hermione squealed.**

"No squealing Mione," Ron smiled smugly, "just because you forgot something and I had to remind you of..."

"Seriously, I'm not sure this book is real," Fred said. "What with all the mad things that have been happening in this chapter..."

"Oh, shut up," Ron huffed, "I do have my moments you know,".

"**I nearly forgot! Stand back –"**

**She pointed her wand at the padlocked and heavily graffitied fire door beside them, which burst open with a crash. The dark corridor behind it led, as they knew from their careful scouting trips, into an empty theater. Hermione pulled the door back toward her, to make it look as though it was still closed.**

"**And now," she said, turning, back to face the other two in the alleyway, "we put on the Cloak again -"**

"—**and we wait," Ron finished, throwing it over Hermione's head like a blanket over a birdcage and rolling his eyes at Sophia.**

**Little more than a minute later, there was a tiny ****_pop _****and a little Ministry witch with flyaway gray hair Apparated feet from them, blinking a little in the sudden brightness: the sun had just come out from behind a cloud. She barely had time to enjoy the unexpected warmth, however, before ****Hermione's silent Stunning Spell hit her in the chest and she toppled over.**

Hermione frowned at this; she didn't like the idea of stunning a person like this. She would prefer a fight in some ways; it just felt unfair to do it this way.

"**Nicely done, Hermione," said Ron, emerging behind a bin beside the theater door as Sophia took off the Invisibility Cloak. Together they carried the little witch into the dark passageway that led backstage. Hermione plucked a few hairs from the witch's head and added them to a flask of muddy Polyjuice Potion she had taken from the beaded bag. Ron was rummaging through the little witch's handbag.**

"You know, this is for a good cause, but I think it's bad that it would be that easy for someone to sneak into the Ministry," Tonks frowned, as an Auror; she took something like this a little personally.

"**She's Mafalda Hopkirk," he said,**

"That's the person that gave me the warnings for using magic," Sophia pointed out a little surprised. It was odd that of all the people that they could run into it was someone that she could recognize, if only in a small way.

**reading a small card that identified their victim as an assistant in the Improper Use of Magic Office. "You'd better take this, Hermione, and here are the tokens."**

**Ron passed her several small golden coins, all embossed with the letters M.O.M., which he had taken from the witch's purse.**

**Hermione drank the Polyjuice Potion, which was now a pleasant heliotrope color, and within seconds stood before them, the double of Mafalda Hopkirk. As she removed Mafalda's spectacles and put them on, Sophia checked her watch.**

"**We're running late, Mr. Magical Maintenance will be here any second."**

**They hurried to close the door on the real Mafalda; Sophia and Ron threw the Invisibility Cloak over themselves but Hermione remained in view, waiting. Seconds later there was another **_**pop**_**, and a small, ferrety looking wizard appeared before them.**

"Ferret," Fred snorted.

"Any relation to you Malfoy?" George said smiling sweetly at the glaring pale boy.

"**Oh, hello, Mafalda."**

"**Hello!" said Hermione in a quavery voice, "How are you today?"**

"**Not so good, actually," replied the little wizard, who looked thoroughly downcast.**

"Well I'm sure Hermione is about to make your day a lot better," Fred chuckled, and Hermione grimaced, she didn't want to do anything to this man, and felt worse that he was having a bad day.

**As Hermione and the wizard headed for the main road, Sophia and Ron crept along behind them.**

"**I'm sorry to hear you're under the weather," said Hermione, talking firmly over the little wizard and he tried to expound upon his problems; it was essential to stop him from reaching the street. "Here, have a sweet."**

"**Eh? Oh, no thanks –"**

"**I insist!" said Hermione aggressively, shaking the bag of pastilles in his face. Looking rather ****alarmed, the little wizard took one.**

"Subtlety has never been your strong suit, Hermione," George informed her.

"I didn't have time to be subtle," Hermione snapped. "He couldn't get to the end of the street."

**The effect was instantaneous. The moment the pastille touched his tongue, the little wizard started vomiting so hard that he did not even notice as Hermione yanked a handful of hairs from the top of his head.**

"And you're welcome for the help," Fred said. "And Mum said that our products were a waste of time."

Molly grimaces at this, she still didn't think it was a good idea to open a joke shop (it was just too unstable of a job; if it didn't work they wouldn't have anything to turn back on). However, she had to admit that this had come in handle at the moment.

"**Oh dear!" she said, as he splattered the alley with sick. "Perhaps you'd better take the day off!"**

"**No – no!" He choked and retched, trying to continue on his way despite being unable to walk straight. "I must – today – must go –"**

"Merlin, this guy most really been keen if he still wants to go to work," George said, he couldn't imagine it; he knew exactly how sick the man was feeling right now, having tested the Puking Pastille plenty of times.

"**But that's just silly!" said Hermione, alarmed. "You can't go to work in this state – I think you ought to go to St. Mungo's and get them to sort you out."**

**The wizard had collapsed, heaving, onto all fours, still trying to crawl toward the main street.**

Arthur raised an eyebrow at this, he didn't know anyone in the Maintenance department that would want to go to work this much. What is going on here?

"**You simply can't go to work like this!" cried Hermione.**

**At last he seemed to accept the truth of her words. Using a reposed Hermione to claw his way back into a standing position, he turned on the spot and vanished, leaving nothing behind but the bag Ron had snatched from his hand as he went and some flying chunks of vomit.**

"**Urgh," said Hermione, holding up the skirt of her robe to avoid the puddles of sick. "It would have made much less mess to Stun him too."**

"**Yeah," said Ron, emerging from under the cloak holding the wizard's bag, "but I still think a whole pile of unconscious bodies would have drawn more attention.**

"That's true... and the puddles of sick will stop people from investigating the alleyway too closely," Remus said with a smirk.

**Keen on his job, though, isn't he? Chuck us the hair and the potion, then."**

**Within two minutes, Ron stood before them, as small and ferrety as the sick wizard, and wearing the navy blue robes that had been folded in his bag.**

"**Weird he wasn't wearing them today, wasn't it, seeing how much he wanted to go? Anyway, I'm****Reg Cattermole, according to the label in the back."**

_So it was Reg,_ Arthur thought to himself, _why would he want to go to work that badly... and why wasn't he wearing his uniform?_ Arthur had always liked Reg, the man actually knew a lot about Muggle things because his wife was a... Oh Merlin that was it! Arthur looked at the trio sadly, they weren't going to be happy to know this, and he wasn't about to break it to them.

"**Now wait here," Hermione told Sophia, who was still under the Invisibility Cloak, "and we'll be back with some hairs for you."**

**She had to wait ten minutes, but it seemed much longer to Sophia, skulking alone in the sick-splattered alleyway beside the door concealing the Stunned Mafalda. Finally Ron and Hermione reappeared.**

"**We don't know who he is," Hermione said,**

"That's not good," Bill frowned. "If someone calls to you and you don't answer, they might find it suspicious."

**passing Sophia several curly black hairs, "but he's gone home with a dreadful nosebleed! Here, he's pretty tall; you'll need bigger robes …"**

**Sophia grimaced. This was not the first time she had been polyjuiced into a man but that didn't mean she wanted to do it again.**

Many in the room chuckled.

The Sophia present also grimaced, she still remembered turning into Goyle despite her best wishes to forget about it.

**She pulled out a set of the old robes Kreacher had laundered for them, and Sophia retired to take the potion and change.**

**Once the painful transformation was complete she was more than six feet tall and, from what she could tell from her well-muscled arms, powerfully built. She also had a beard. Stowing the Invisibility Cloak inside her new robes, she rejoined the other two.**

"**Blimey, that's scary," said Ron, looking up at Sophia, who now towered over him.**

Ron made a face at this; he had always been taller than Sophia as she was a girl and didn't have that much height on her to begin with.

**"****_You _****think I'm scary. How do you think I feel? I'm a bloody man." She hissed back at him. **

"**Take one of Mafalda's tokens," Hermione told Sophia, "and let's go, it's nearly nine."**

**They stepped out of the alleyway together. Fifty yards along the crowded pavement there were spiked black railings flanking two flights of stairs, one labeled GENTLEMEN, the other LADIES.**

"What is that about?" Sophia questioned looking at Mr. Weasley.

"I don't know, it must be something new," Arthur answered.

"**See you in a moment, then," said Hermione nervously, and she tottered off down the steps to LADIES. Sophia and Ron joined a number of oddly dressed men descending into what appeared to be an ordinary underground public toilet, tiled in grimy black and white. Sophia frowned, she have never been into the men's restroom and hated being polyjuiced even more.**

"**Morning, Reg!" called another wizard in navy blue robes as he let himself into a cubicle by inserting his golden token into a slot in the door. "Blooming pain in the bum, this, eh? Forcing us all to get to work this way! Who are they expecting to turn up, Sophia Potter?"**

Several people laughed at that.

"Nah, Sophia Potter would never be stupid enough to show up there!" Sirius teased.

**The wizard roared with laughter at his own wit. Ron gave a forced chuckle.**

"**Yeah," he said, "stupid, isn't it?"**

**And he and Sophia let themselves into adjoining cubicles.**

**To Sophia's left and right came the sound of flushing. She crouched down and peered through the gap at the bottom of the cubicle, just in time to see a pair of booted feet climbing into the toilet next door. She looked left and saw Ron blinking at her.**

"Are you telling me the Ministry worker has to flush themselves down a toilet?" Sirius said and then started laughing along with most the room. "The Ministry literally has gone down the drain!"

"**We have to flush ourselves in?" he whispered.**

"**Looks like it," Sophia whispered back; her voice came out deep and gravelly.**

**They both stood up. Feeling exceptionally foolish, Sophia clambered into the toilet.**

**She knew at once that she had done the right thing; thought she appeared to be standing in water, her shoes, feet, and robes remained quite dry. She reached up, pulled the chain, and next moment had zoomed down a short chute, emerging out of a fireplace into the Ministry of Magic.**

**She got up clumsily; there was a lot more of her body than she was accustomed to. The great Atrium seemed darker than Sophia remembered it. Previously a golden fountain had filled the center of the hall, casting shimmering spots of light over the polished wooden floor and walls. Now a gigantic statue of black stone dominated the scene. It was rather frightening, this vast sculpture of a witch and a wizard sitting on ornately carved thrones, looking down at the Ministry workers toppling out of fireplaces below them. Engraved in foot-high letters at the base of the statue were the words MAGIC IS MIGHT.**

"I knew I wasn't going to like that saying," George frowned.

**Sophia received a heavy blow on the back of the legs. Another wizard had just flown out of the fireplace behind him.**

"**Out of the way, can't y – oh, sorry, Runcorn."**

"Good, now you know who you are," Bill said.

"And that you're someone that's somewhat important," Remus added, noting how the other person had reacted to Sophia.

"I'd said," Arthur said scowling. "He's not a bad person for you to impersonate, Sophia."

"Er... is he a bad person?" Sophia questioned the uncharacteristic dark looking in Arthur's eyes.

"He's not bad," Percy said, scowling at his father, there was nothing wrong with Runcorn, so he put a lot of stock in blood purity and though Percy didn't necessarily agree with it, it wasn't wrong.

"I won't call him bad," Arthur admitted, and then stared at his son was almost disapproval, "he's just not someone that I agree with."

**Clearly frightened, the balding wizard hurried away. Apparently the man who Sophia was ****impersonating, Runcorn, was intimidating.**

"Which is weird, cause you aren't a very intimidating girl Soph," Fred smirked.

He was apparently wrong as he flinched when she gave him an icy glare.

"**Psst!" said a voice, and she looked around to see a whispy little witch and the ferrety wizard from Magical Maintenance gesturing to her from over beside the statue. Sophia hastened to join them.**

"**You got in all right, then?" Hermione whispered to Sophia.**

"**No, she's still stuck in the hog," said Ron.**

"**Oh, very funny … It's horrible, isn't it?" she said to Sophia, who was staring up at the statue. "Have you seen what they're sitting on?"**

**Sophia looked more closely and realized that what she had thought were decoratively carved thrones were actually mounds of carved humans: hundreds and hundreds of naked bodies, men, women, and children, all with rather stupid, ugly faces, twisted and pressed together to support the weight of the handsomely robed wizards.**

George read this passage with obvious disgust as everyone in the room looked revolted.

"How could anyone stand to look at that thing?" Molly voiced what most of the room thought.

"How could there still be people in the Ministry that don't believe that Voldemort took over if that is the first thing they see every day?" Draco said, he took looked disgusted, but not nearly as much as the other. He was raised to believe that this was the Muggles proper place after all.

"**Muggles," whispered Hermione, "In their rightful place. Come on, let's get going."**

**They joined the stream of witches and wizards moving toward the golden gates at the end of the hall, looking around as surreptitiously as possible, but there was no sign of the distinctive ugly figure of Dolores Umbridge.**

"Ugly," Sirius snorted at his goddaughter's thoughts.

**They passed through the gates and into a smaller hall, where queues were forming in front of twenty golden grilles housing as many lifts. They had barely joined the nearest one when a voice said, "Cattermole!"**

**They looked around: Sophia's stomach turned over. One of the Death Eaters who had witnessed Dumbledore's death was striding toward them. The Ministry workers beside them fell silent, their eyes downcast; Sophia could feel fear rippling through them.**

"How can you feel fear rippling through them?" Ron questioned.

"I don't know," Sophia shrugged. "I supposed I can just read their faces or something like that."

**The man's scowling, slightly brutish face was somehow at odds with his magnificent, sweeping robes, which were embroidered with much gold thread. Someone in the crowd around the lifts called sycophantically, "Morning, Yaxley!" Yaxley ignored them.**

"That was lucky," Remus mumbled, it would not be good if they didn't know the Death Eaters name when it was clear they should. Still they were in a dangerous position, seeing as they were interacting with someone that was obviously going to talk about things they couldn't know.

"**I requested somebody from Magical Maintenance to sort out my office, Cattermole. It's still raining in there."**

**Ron looked around as though hoping somebody else would intervene, but nobody spoke.**

"**Raining … in your office? That's – that's not good, is it?"**

**Ron gave a nervous laugh. Yaxley's eyes widened.**

"Don't laugh... not in front of a Death Eater!" Charlie groaned.

"Well, I don't know he's a Death Eater, now do I?" Ron grumbled, though he was feeling sick knowing he was endangering his friends right now.

"**You think it's funny, Cattermole, do you?"**

**A pair of witches broke away from the queue for the lift and bustled off.**

"**No," said Ron, "no, of course –"**

"**You realize that I am on my way downstairs to interrogate your wife, Cattermole? In fact, I'm quite surprised you're not down there holding her hand while she waits. Already given her up as a bad job, have you? Probably wise. Be sure and marry a pureblood next time."**

Ron's eyes flashed at that. "There's nothing wrong with marrying someone that's not a pureblood."

This had the whole room smiling for a second before they, especially Ron, realized what was just said.

"His wife is on trial... for being a Muggle-born!" Ron groaned miserable. What would he have done if Her... er... his wife was on trial and he was feeling sick. Yes, he would have crawled on hands and knees to be there for her.

There was nothing anyone could say to make Ron, nor the Sophia and Hermione, feel any better for what they had done, so George decided he should read again.

**Hermione had let out a little squeak of horror. Yaxley looked at ****her. She coughed feebly and turned away.**

"**I – I –" stammered Ron.**

"**But if ****_my _****wife were accused of being a Mudblood,"**

George read the word with scorn, glaring at the book as most the others were doing.

**said Yaxley, "—not that any woman I married would ever be mistaken for such filth – and the Head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement needed a job doing, I would make it my priority to do this job, Cattermole. Do you understand me?"**

"**Yes," whispered Ron.**

"**Then attend to it, Cattermole, and if my office is not completely dry within an hour, your wife's Blood Status will be in even greater doubt than it is now."**

"Great, how am I supposed to fix that!" Ron groaned.

"Don't listen to him Ron, Mary's status isn't going to change because you make his office stop raining," Arthur said glumly.

Ron, however, bowed his head lower at Arthur's words; he could tell his dad must know who the Cattermole were and that they were decent people.

**The golden grille before them clattered open. With a nod and unpleasant smile to Sophia, who was evidently expected to appreciate this treatment of Cattermole, Yaxley swept away toward another lift. Sophia, Ron, and Hermione entered theirs, but nobody followed them: It was as if they were infectious. The grilles shut with a clang and the lift began to move upward.**

"**What am I going to do?" Ron asked the other two at once; he looked stricken. "If I don't turn up, my wife … I mean, Cattermole's wife –"**

"**We'll come with you, we should stick together –" began Sophia, but Ron shook his head feverishly.**

"**That's mental, we haven't got much time. You two find Umbridge, I'll go and sort out Yaxley's office – but how do I stop a raining?"**

"I don't like this, Sophia is right, you need to stick together," Molly said, starting to panic again.

"And like Ron said they don't have time," Fred said.

"I wish the Ron in the book could know that he didn't have to fix the office," Ginny sighed. She knew her brother would never let someone suffer like that when he could do something to help him.

"**Try Finite Incantatem," said Hermione at once, "that should stop the rain if it's a hex or curse; if it doesn't something's gone wrong with an Atmospheric Charm, which will be more difficult to fix, so as an interim measure try Impervius to protect his belongings – "**

"Maybe you should go with him," Bill suggested, "I don't like the fact that you're splitting up any more than anyone, but if you have any chance in fixing the situation, Hermione would be needed."

"**Say it again, slowly –" said Ron, searching his pockets desperately for a quill, but at that moment the lift juddered to a halt. A disembodied female voice said, "Level four, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, incorporating Beast, Being, and Spirit Divisions, Goblin Liaison Office, and Pest Advisory Bureau," and the grilles slid open again, admitting a couple of wizards and several pale violet paper airplanes that fluttered around the lamp in the ceiling of the lift.**

"**Morning, Albert," said a bushily whiskered man, smiling at Sophia. He glanced over at Ron and Hermione as the lift creaked upward once more; Hermione was now whispering frantic instructions to Ron. The wizard leaned toward Sophia, leering, and muttering "Dirk Cresswell, eh? From Goblin Liaison? Nice one, Albert. I'm pretty confident I'll get his job now!"**

Arthur frowned as he heard the name of another Muggle-born. He also wondered why this man had said 'nice one' to who he thought was Runcorn.

**He winked. Sophia smiled back, hoping that this would suffice. The lift stopped; the grilles opened once more.**

"**Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services," said the disembodied witch's voice.**

**Sophia saw Hermione give Ron a little push and he hurried out of the lift, followed by the other wizards, leaving Sophia and Hermione alone. The moment the golden door had closed Hermione said, very fast, "Actually, Sophia, I think I'd better go after him, I don't think he knows what he's doing and if he gets caught the whole thing – "**

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Hermione, "Ron grumbled, he knew he was going to be rubbish at those spells, but it didn't help to hear her say that.

"Ron, I didn't mean it like that," Hermione said. "I just wanted to help you."

"Sure," Ron said moodily, "whatever."

"**Level one, Minister of Magic and Support Staff."**

**The golden grilles slid apart again and Hermione gasped. Four people stood before them, two of them deep in conversation: a long-haired wizard wearing robes of black and gold, and a squat, toad like witch wearing a velvet bow in her short hair and clutching a clipboard to her chest.**

"Well, it looks like you found Umbridge easily enough," George said. "And that's the end of the chapter... who wants to read next?"

"I will," Molly said. George handed her the book.

* * *

Do you guys want more new chapters or redone old ones? And I'm thinking of keeping Dobby alive but I don't know how to go about it. Suggestions would be good if you want me to keep him alive too.


	13. Chapter 13: The Muggle-Born Registeratio

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter Series.**

"**The Muggle-Born Registration Commission,"** Molly read, frowning at the title. She wasn't the only one frowning; everyone seemed to be upset about this.

"**Ah, Mafalda!" said Umbridge, looking at Hermione. "Travers sent you, did he?"**

"**Y-yes," squeaked Hermione.**

"Liar!" Fred said. "You don't even know who Travers is!"

"What am I supposed to say," Hermione said, "I'm guessing that Mafalda doesn't go to the first floor often."

"I can tell you one thing... you're not supposed to stutter," George said.

"Oi, leave her alone," Ron said, but he wished he hadn't because his brother started sniggering at his defense of Hermione. Luckily it was Molly that was reading, if it was anyone else in his family they would have made him suffer. He did hear the satisfactory sound of Sophia smacking his brother though, which helped a bit.

"**Good, you'll do perfectly well." Umbridge spoke to the wizard in black and gold. "That's that problem solved. Minister, if Mafalda can be spared for record-keeping we shall be able to start straightaway." She consulted her clipboard. "Ten people today and one of them the wife of a Ministry employee! Tut, tut… even here, in the heart of the Ministry!" She stepped into the lift besides Hermione, as did the two wizards who had been listening to Umbridge's conversation with the Minister. "We'll go straight down, Mafalda; you'll find everything you need in the courtroom. Good morning, Albert, aren't you getting out?"**

"I'm going to the Muggle-borns' hearings," Hermione said softly. She didn't think that she could handle something like that. Watching someone get persecuted against for something that they can't fight because they didn't do anything wrong. Persecuted for something that she herself was guilty of.

"It seems that way," Tonks said, in a sympathetic voice. She was wondering if her dad was going to be tried. Somehow she doubted it, her dad wouldn't be stupid enough to go to a trial, he would run before that happens.

"**Yes, of course," said Sophia in Runcorn's deep voice, so unlike her own.**

**Sophia stepped out of the lift. The golden grilles clanged shut behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, Sophia saw Hermione's anxious face sinking back out of sight, a tall wizard on either side of her, Umbridge's velvet hair-bow level with her shoulder.**

"**What brings you here, Runcorn?" asked the new Minister of Magic. His long black hair and beard were streaked with silver and a great overhanging forehead shadowed his glinting eyes, putting Sophia in the mind of a crab looking out from beneath a rock.**

Several people laughed at that description, but it was Arthur, Kingsley and Tonks making the most noise. They knew the man, and they couldn't help but agree with Sophia's thoughts. Percy on the other had was trying his hardest not to show any amusement, who cared if it was true the man looked that way... it wouldn't be right to laugh at his superior like that.

"**Needed a quick word with," Sophia hesitated for a fraction of a second, "Arthur Weasley. Someone said he was up on level one."**

"Oh thanks Sophia, that's probably going to get me in trouble," Arthur said good naturally.

"Sorry," Sophia blushed, though Arthur was obviously not really angry, she wondered if Arthur was right.

"**Ah," said Thicknesse. "Has he been caught having contact with an Undesirable?"**

"Undesirable?" several people questioned, and everyone looked either confused or suspicious.

"I'm sure we'll find out what this means," Remus frowned.

"And we won't like it," Sirius finished for him.

"**No," said Sophia, her throat dry. "No, nothing like that."**

"**Ah, well. It's only a matter of time," said Thicknesse. "If you ask me, the blood traitors are as bad as the Mudbloods. Good day, Runcorn."**

"I take that as a compliment," Arthur said hotly and all the Weasleys (and Sirius) nodded their heads.

Draco rolled his eyes at this comment.

"**Good day, Minister."**

**Sophia watched Thicknesse march away along the thickly carpeted corridor. The moment the Minister had passed out of sight, Sophia tugged the Invisibility Cloak out from under her heavy black cloak, threw it over herself, and set off along the corridor in the opposite direction. Runcorn was so tall that Sophia was forced to stoop to make sure her big feet were hidden.**

**Panic pulsed in the pit of her stomach. As she passed gleaming wooden door after gleaming wooden door, each bearing a small plaque with the owner's name and occupation upon it, the might of the Ministry, its complexity, its impenetrability, seemed to force itself upon her so that the plan she had been carefully concocting with Ron and Hermione over the past four weeks seemed laughably childish.**

"It wasn't laughable or childish Soph," Tonks said, "just the fact that you got into the Ministry when the security is that high proves that."

"Still, it would have been better if you thought about more than just getting inside," Remus added.

**They had concentrated all their efforts on getting inside without being detected: They had not given a moment's thought to what they would do if they were forced to separate.**

Hermione frowned at that; it seemed like such a simple thing to think of, why didn't she think of that?

**Now Hermione was stuck in court proceedings, which would undoubtedly last hours; Ron was struggling to do magic that Sophia was sure was beyond him,**

Ron sighed at that. He didn't like hearing his best mate think he couldn't handle something.

**a woman's liberty possibly depending on the outcome, and she, Sophia, was wandering around on the top floor when she knew perfectly well that her quarry had just gone down in the lift.**

"But you also know that Hermione is with her so it's not that bad," Ginny said.

"I suppose not, and it's also good that I know where Hermione is," Sophia said. "I just don't know how I'm going to find Ron."

Molly moaned at this and then read.

**She stopped walking, leaned against a wall, and tried to decide what to do. The silence pressed upon her: There was no bustling or talk or swift footsteps here the purple-carpeted corridors were as hushed as though the ****_Muffliato _****charm had been cast over the place.**

_**Her office must be up here**_**, Sophia thought.**

**It seemed most unlikely that Umbridge would keep her jewelry in her office, but on the other hand it seemed foolish not to search it to make sure.**

"Good thinking," Remus approved, he knew James never would have looked at Umbridge's office, but Lily would have.

"Yeah, because you would look like a bloody idiot if it was just sitting on her desk and you didn't even look," Sirius said. This made Remus shake his head, he knew full well that Sirius never would have gone in that office.

**She therefore set off along the corridor again, passing nobody but a frowning wizard who was murmuring instructions to a quill that floated in front of him, scribbling on a trail of parchment.**

**Now paying attention to the names on the doors, Sophia turned a corner. Halfway along the next corridor he emerged into a wide, open space where a dozen witches and wizards sat in rows at small desks not unlike school desks, though much more highly polished and free from graffiti. Sophia paused to watch them, for the effect was quite mesmerizing. They were all waving and twiddling their wands in unison, and squares of colored paper were flying in every direction like little pink kites. After a few seconds, Sophia realized that there was a rhythm to the proceedings, that the papers all formed the same pattern and after a few more seconds she realized what she was watching was the creation of pamphlets – that the paper squares were pages, which, when assembled, folded and magicked into place, fell into neat stacks beside each witch or wizard.**

"Well, as interesting as that all is, don't you think you should get moving," Fred said.

"Interesting... that was bloody boring," George said. "Phia, how could you just stand there watching people _fold papers_?"

George quite liked that nickname and liked even more that he was the only who used it

"I've never seen anything like that before," Sophia shrugged.

**Sophia crept closer, although the workers were so intent on what they were doing that she doubted they would notice a carpet-muffled footstep, and she slid a completed pamphlet from the pile beside a young witch. She examined it beneath the Invisibility Cloak. Its pink cover was emblazoned with a golden title:**

**Mudbloods** **and the Dangers They Pose to** **a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society**

"Argh, I don't think I like this future," Charlie groaned. "Imagine having to read crap like that."

"Well, you wouldn't be getting the pamphlet, you live in Romania," Bill said to his brother.

"Oh, right," Charlie smiled at him sheepishly. "Though I still don't like this future."

**Beneath the title was a picture of a red rose with a simpering face in the middle of its petals, being strangled by a green weed with fangs and a scowl. There was no author's name upon the pamphlet, but again, the scars on the back of her right hand seemed to tingle as she examined it.**

"Stupid, bloody toad," Hermione muttered under her breath. Ron raised his eyebrow at her, not sure he had actually heard that or if he was just imagining things.

**Then the young witch beside her confirmed her suspicion as she said, still waving and twirling her wand, "Will the old hag be interrogating Mudbloods all day, does anyone know?"**

"That sentence started off fine, but it really was ruined by the middle," Fred narrowed his eyes. "Does everyone call Muggle-borns that now?"

"I don't know," Arthur frowned. "As of now it is socially unpopular to say something like that, so even if a person would prefer to call a Muggle-born a... er... that, they wouldn't."

"Well if you are using that logic, then it might also be true that everyone in the Ministry would use that term... in this book at least... because it was now the acceptable and probably even preferred way to refer to Muggle-borns," Remus said reasonably, but he was disgusted by the thought of it.

"**Careful," said the wizard beside her, glancing around nervously; one of his pages slipped and fell to the floor.**

"**What, has she got magic ears as well as an eye, now?"**

"Eye?" Charlie questioned, looking towards Tonks because she had gasped. She shook her head and glared at the book in disbelief. That better not be what she thought it was or she would cause Umbridge some serious problems.

**The witch glanced toward the shining mahogany door facing the space full of pamphlet-makers; Sophia looked too, and the rage reared in her like a snake.**

"Why a snake Soph... it should be a loin?" Fred said and Sophia just rolled her eyes at him.

Tonks was seething even more than before, she knew she was right. Why else would Sophia have gotten that angry?

**Where there might have been a peephole on a Muggle front door, a large, round eye with a bright blue iris had been set into the wood – an eye that was shockingly familiar to anybody who had known Alastor Moody.**

Several people gasped and you could practically see smoke coming out of Tonks' ears..

"Er... do you know if it was really his," Charlie asked, he had never meet Moody before, unlike most of the people in the room. "I mean was his eye the only one that was made before."

"No," Dumbledore said in a force calm voice, it was clear that he was very upset about this. "There have been other eyes made that are similar to Moody's, however, none of them would be used like this, as a looking glass used to spy on others."

**For a split second Sophia forgot where she was and what she was doing there: She even forgot that she was invisible. She strode straight over to the door to examine the eye.**

"So it's a good thing that the bloody toad wasn't in her office than," Ron said. "She would have seen you."

"What? How would she been able to see him?" Charlie asked. "Wasn't Sophia wearing her cloak?"

"Yeah, but Moody's eye could see through invisibility cloaks," Ron explained.

"Really, that's got to be useful, especially considering the advantage that would give him in his job," Charlie said.

**It was not moving. It gazed blindly upward, frozen. The plaque beneath it read:**

**Dolores Umbridge**

**Senior Undersecretary to the Minister**

**Below that a slightly shinier new plaque read:**

**Head of the Muggle-Born** **Registration Commission**

"Well, I would say that this makes me hate her more, but I don't know if that's even possible," Sophia frowned. "I even hate her more than I do you, Professor Snape," she added not caring that he could hear her. He bluntly insulted her and her father to her face so why should she bother?

Snape didn't know what was wrong with him, but he felt both very pleased and disappointed about that.

**Sophia looked back at the dozen pamphlet-makers: Though they were intent upon their work, she could hardly suppose that they would not notice if the door of an empty office opened in front of ****them. She therefore withdrew from an inner pocket an odd object with little waving legs and a rubber-bulbed horn for a body. Crouching down beneath the Cloak, she placed the Decoy Detonator on the ground.**

"Ah good, we'll get to hear what it does," Fred smiled.

**It scuttled away at once through the legs of the witches and wizards in front of her. A few moments later, during which Sophia waited with her hand upon the doorknob, there came a loud bang and a great deal of acrid smoke billowed from a corner. The young witch in the front row shrieked: Pink pages flew everywhere as she and her fellows jumped up, looking around for the source of the commotion.**

"That does sound good!" George said, looking at his brother, clearly saying they should work on developing this when they get back.

**Sophia turned the doorknob, stepped into Umbridge's office, and closed the door behind her.**

**She felt she had stepped back in time. The room was exactly like Umbridge's office at Hogwarts:**

Sophia cringed as she thought of that imagine... She wished she never had to see that woman's office again, but unfortunately she didn't think that was very likely.

**Lace draperies, doilies and dried flowers covered every surface. The walls bore the same ornamental plates, each featuring a highly colored, beribboned kitten, gamboling and frisking with sickening cuteness. The desk was covered with a flouncy, flowered cloth. Behind Mad-Eye's eye, a telescopic attachment enabled Umbridge to spy on the workers on the other side of the door.**

"So she has nothing better to do with her time then to spy on the workers," Tonks huffed.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she did no more work in this job as she does as a teacher," Hermione muttered.

**Sophia took a look through it and saw that they were all still gathered around the Decoy Detonator. She wrenched the telescope out of the door, leaving a hole behind, pulled the magical eyeball out of it, and placed it in her pocket.**

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at this, he was not sure it was the best move, but didn't expect Sophia to do anything less... he couldn't bear the thought of Moody's eye there either.

**Then she turned to face the room again, raised her wand, and murmured, "**_**Accio Locker."**_

**Nothing happened,**

Everyone sighed, they didn't think it would actually have been there, they hoped it would have been that easy.

**but she had not expected it to; no doubt Umbridge knew all about protective charms and spells.**

"Not that she teaches us any of that," Hermione muttered angrily.

**She therefore hurried behind Umbridge's desk and began pulling open all the drawers. She saw quills and notebooks and Spellotape; enchanted paper clips that coiled snakelike from their drawer and had been beaten back; a fussy little lace box full of spare hair bows and clips; but no sign of a locket.**

**There was a filing cabinet behind the desk: Sophia set to searching it. Like Filch's filing cabinet at ****Hogwarts, it was full of folders, each labeled with a name. It was not until Sophia reached the bottom most drawer that she saw something to distract her from the search: Mr. Weasley's file.**

"Oh dear," Molly moaned before she continued reading.

**She pulled it out and opened it.**

**Arthur Weasley Blood Status:**

**Pureblood, but with unacceptable pro-Muggle leanings.**

Everyone frowned at this; there was nothing wrong with a pro-Muggle leaning!

**Known member of the Order of the Phoenix.**

Molly sighed again, of course they were known members of the Order, but she knew that was only going to make them in more danger... and less able to help others.

**Family:**

**Wife (pureblood), seven children, two youngest at Hogwarts. NB: Youngest son currently at home, seriously ill, Ministry inspectors have confirmed.**

"Good," Molly said, at least there was one good thing in this bloody file.

Ron smiled at this, glad that his plan had worked and his family was safe.

**Security Status:**

**TRACKED. All movements are being monitored. Strong likelihood Undesirable No. 1 will contact (has stayed with Weasley family previously)**

"Undesirable No. 1?" several people muttered.

"Who wants the bet it's Sophia?" Fred questioned.

"At least I'm Number One," Sophia said with a shrug making her godfather bark a laugh and Remus roll his eyes.

"**Undesirable Number One," Sophia muttered under her breath as she replaced Mr. Weasley's folder and shut the drawer. She had an idea she knew who that was, and sure enough, as she straightened up and glanced around the office for fresh hiding places she saw a poster of herself on the wall, with the words UNDESIRABLE NO. 1 emblazoned across her chest. A little pink note was stuck to it with a picture of a kitten in the corner. Sophia moved across to read it and saw that Umbridge had written, "**_**To be punished."**_

Sophia's fist clenched at that and she glared at the book. She also felt that Hermione had stiffened too, she was muttering under her breath at ways she would like to punish the vile toad.

Everyone seemed to be angered by this. Sirius and Remus give each other dark looks, the twins put their heads together and were muttering something. Ron and Ginny, were acting much like Sophia, clenching their fists and glaring at the book. Molly looked beyond angry, what had poor Sophia ever done that she deserved to be punished for?

**Angrier than ever, she proceeded to grope in the bottoms of the vases and baskets of dried flowers, but was not at all surprised that the locket was not there. She gave the office one last sweeping look, and her heart skipped a beat. Dumbledore was staring at her from a small rectangular mirror, propped up on a bookcase beside the desk.**

**Sophia crossed the room and snatched it up, but realized that the moment she touched it that it was not a mirror at all. Dumbledore was smiling wistfully out of the front cover of a glossy book.**

Dumbledore sighed, knowing very well what this book was.

Everyone else seemed to realize too and they looked curious but apprehensive about what Sophia might learn about Dumbledore this time. Sophia, however, wished that she didn't find this, it was true that she wanted to learn more about Dumbledore, but whenever something comes up in this book about Dumbledore's past it just makes her book self-angrier.

**Sophia had not immediately noticed the curly green writing across his hat –****_The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore_****– nor the slightly smaller writing across his chest: "by Rita Skeeter, bestselling author of **_**Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?**_**"**

**Sophia opened the book at random and saw a full-page photograph of two teenage boys, both laughing immoderately with their arms around each other's shoulders. Dumbledore, now with elbow-length hair, had grown a tiny wispy beard that recalled the one on Krum's chin that had so annoyed Ron.**

"Soph, how could you compare Dumbledore to that pumpkin head?" Ron said over dramatically.

"Don't call him that," Hermione said, slapping his arm playfully.

"How can you three laugh, don't you realize how dangerous your situation is?" Molly questioned.

"We're used to it," they all said at the same time, which just caused them to laugh harder.

**The boy who roared in silent amusement beside Dumbledore had a gleeful, wild look about him. His golden hair fell in curls to his shoulders.**

Dumbledore sighed, he knew it would be Gellert, but it didn't make it any easier to hear this picture described. He felt Minerva put a hand on his shoulder, an odd show of affection from the Transfiguration Professor, but one he valued at the moment.

**Sophia wondered whether it was a young Doge, but before she could check the caption, the door of the office opened.**

Everyone looked at Dumbledore curiously, wondering who this boy was, but it was clear he wasn't going to answer them. It was also clear that whoever it was, wasn't someone that Dumbledore really wanted to think about.

**If Thicknesse had not been looking over his shoulder as he entered, Sophia would not have had time to pull the Invisibility Cloak over herself.**

"You should have been wearing your cloak," Snape said coldly. "You shouldn't allow yourself to be that vulnerable here."

Sophia rolled her eyes, she really didn't care what Snape thought.

**As it was, she thought Thicknesse might have caught a glimpse of movement, because for a moment or two he remained quite still, staring curiously at the place where Sophia had just vanished. Perhaps deciding that that all he had seen was Dumbledore scratching his nose on the front of the book, for Sophia had hastily replaced it upon the shelf. Thicknesse finally walked to the desk and pointed his wand at the quill standing ready in the ink pot. It sprang out and began scribbling a note to Umbridge. Very slowly, hardly daring to breathe, Sophia backed out of the office into the open area beyond.**

"Hmph, that is another thing you didn't think about," Snape said. "How were you planning on getting out of the room? As you said, a door opening on its own accord would be suspicious, and you couldn't even use the eye to spy on the hall to see if you were clear to go."

Sophia was quiet for a few seconds before she asked, "did you think of this before? You know before I got in the room or are you just thinking of this now?"

"I..." Snape started.

"Because if you just thought of it, it means that you would have done the same thing as I did," Sophia looked at him coldly, her emerald green eyes twinkling dangerously.

Snape remained silent but was giving Sophia a cold look. He knew that her answer was one that Lily would have given him.

**The pamphlet-makers were still clustered around the remains of the Decoy Detonator, which continued to hoot feebly as it smoked. Sophia hurried off up the corridor as the young witch said, "I bet it sneaked up here from Experimental Charms, they're so careless, remember that poisonous duck?"**

Tonks and Arthur started laughing (and Percy was smiling), and everybody looked at them, everyone in the Ministry remembers the poisonous duck story.

**Speeding back toward the lifts, Sophia reviewed her options. It had never been likely that the locket was here at the Ministry, and there was no hope of bewitching its where abouts out of Umbridge while she was sitting in a crowded court.**

"Er... but she could be wearing it," Ginny pointed out.

"That ugly thing... who would want to wear that?" Ron said.

"Ron, come on, we're talking about old toad face here," Fred said.

"The worst the thing looks, the more likely she would wear it," Ginny put in.

"So in conclusion, it's likely that the toad is wearing it," Bill said.

"My thoughts exactly," Charlie said.

"So you should get down to the courtrooms," Percy said.

His siblings gave him strange looks before looking back at their mum who continued to read.

**Their priority now had to be to leave the Ministry before they were exposed, and try again another day. The first thing to do was to find Ron, and then they could work out a way of extracting Hermione from the courtroom.**

**The lift was empty when it arrived. Sophia jumped in and pulled off the Invisibility Cloak as it started its descent.**

"Maybe you shouldn't do that, you don't really know how to act like Runcorn," Remus said, "you don't want to draw attention to yourself."

**To her enormous relief, when it rattled to a halt at level two, a soaking-wet and wild-eyed Ron got in.**

"**M-morning," he stammered to Sophia as the lift set off again.**

"**Ron, it's me, Sophia!"**

"**Sophia! Blimey, I forgot what you looked like**

"Ronald!" Hermione said. "You should have remembered that... how were you planning on finding us again if you don't remember what we looked like?"

"Er... I don't know, Mione," Ron said uncomfortably, which only got worse when Hermione's eyes narrowed farther.

– **why isn't Hermione with you?"**

"Oh... that's it, I must have remembered what you looked like," Ron said. "I didn't expect you two to get separated."

"First of all, what makes you so sure that you would remember what I looked like?" Hermione asked.

"Because I..." Ron started to answer truthfully... because he would always know that, but didn't think it was the best thing to say. So after his ears turned red he said, "... because we've been watching the lady Apparate there for close to a month. Same with the guy that I'm impersonating, but we just picked some random guy for Sophia."

"Oh..." Hermione said, that was actually a pretty good reason. "You still should have remembered what Sophia looked like just in case."

"I know," Ron agreed, pleased that she was no longer glaring.

"**She had to go down to the courtrooms with Umbridge, she couldn't refuse, and –"**

**But before Sophia could finish the lift had stopped again. The doors opened and Mr. Weasley walked inside,**

Molly smiled a little, liking that she got to hear how her husband was doing.

**talking to an elderly witch whose blonde hair was teased so high it resembled an anthill.**

"… **I quite understand what you're saying, Wakanda, but I'm afraid I cannot be party to –"**

**Mr. Weasley broke off; he had noticed Sophia. It was very strange to have Mr. Weasley glare at her with that much dislike.**

"I'm sorry, Sophia," Arthur said.

"It's okay, Mr. Weasley, I know you're not really glaring at me," Sophia said.

**The lift doors closed and the four of them trundled downward once more.**

"**Oh hello, Reg," said Mr. Weasley, looking around at the sound of steady dripping from Ron's robes. "Isn't your wife in for questioning today? Er – what's happened to you? Why are you so wet?"**

"**Yaxley's office is raining," said Ron. He addressed Mr. Weasley's shoulder, and Sophia felt sure he was scared that his father might recognize him if they looked directly into each other's eyes.**

"I'm not sure I could have," Arthur said, "not when it's unexpected like this."

"Well, Loony was able to tell that it was Sophia at the Wedding," Fred said.

"Don't call her that!" Ginny snapped at her brother.

"And she doesn't know Phia that well," George finished Fred's thoughts.

"Yet, you mean," Ginny said. "It's clear that she and Sophia are going to become friends at some point."

"Plus, anyone that knows the least bit about Sophia, would know that she would be at the wedding," Hermione said. "She would likely have expected her to be there."

"**I couldn't stop it, so they've sent me to get Bernie – Pillsworth, I think they said –"**

"**Yes, a lot of offices have been raining lately," said Mr. Weasley. "Did you try Meterolojinx Recanto? It worked for Bletchley."**

Molly smiled at her husband for a second, not only was he helping their son out with this, but she loved that he was the kind of man that would offer help to anyone.

"**Meteolojinx Recanto?" whispered Ron. "No, I didn't. Thanks, D – I mean, thanks, Arthur."**

"Well, calling me Dad might have clued me in to who you were," Arthur chuckled.

"Good thing I caught myself then," Ron smiled sheepishly.

**The lift doors opened; the old witch with the anthill hair left, and Ron darted past her out of sight. Sophia made to follow him, but found her path blocked as Percy Weasley strode into the lift, ****his nose buried in some papers he was reading.**

Arthur and Percy both stiffed, both of them hoping for the same thing, but knowing it wasn't likely.

**Not until the doors had clanged shut again did Percy realize he was in a lift with his father. He glanced up, saw Mr. Weasley, turned radish red, and left the lift the moment the doors opened again.**

Molly's voice was heartbreaking to hear, and Arthur put an arm around her shoulder. However, he was stubbornly not looking at his son. Percy wasn't looking at any of his family, choosing instead to focus on the floor in front of him.

**For the second time, Sophia tried to get out, but this time found her way blocked by Mr. Weasley's arm.**

"Oh bugger," Arthur said, he knew he was going to say something he shouldn't and that his wife wouldn't like.

"Arthur!" Molly hissed at him.

"Sorry dear," Arthur said reflexively. "But this isn't good..."

"**One moment, Runcorn."**

**The lift doors closed and as they clanked down another floor, Mr. Weasley said, "I hear you had information about Dirk Cresswell."**

**Sophia had the impression that Mr. Weasley's anger was no less because of the brush with Percy.**

Of course it is, Arthur thought darkly. He hated the estrangement he had with his son, and the fact that Percy thought so little of him.

**She decided her best chance was to act stupid.**

"Nothing new there," Draco teased.

"You know you shouldn't say something like that when Sophia is constantly besting you," Ginny told the pale haired boy. "It just makes you sound stupider."

"Potter doesn't best me," Draco said.

"And you're not even big enough to admit the truth," Ginny shook her head. "Pathetic."

Draco's cheeks turned pink as he glared at her.

The Weasley boys, Sophia, Hermione and Sirius were all laughing at this.

"**Sorry?" she said.**

"**Don't pretend, Runcorn," said Mr. Weasley fiercely. "You tracked down the wizard who faked his family tree, didn't you?"**

"**I – so what if I did?" said Sophia.**

"**So Dirk Cresswell is ten times the wizard you are," said Mr. Weasley quietly, as the lift sank ever lower. "And if he survives Azkaban, you'll have to answer to him, not to mention his wife, his ****sons, and his friends –"**

"Arthur!" Molly groaned. "You can't say things like that... it will get you in trouble."

"I..." Arthur said, his anger was flashing at the moment and he would have said more but Remus interrupted.

"It's actually quite lucky that you're talking to Sophia at the moment," he said, "you were able to vent some of your anger and now nothing will happen to you."

"**Arthur," Sophia interrupted, "you know you're being tracked, don't you?"**

"**Is that a threat, Runcorn?" said Mr. Weasley loudly.**

"**No," said Sophia, "it's a fact! They're watching your every move –"**

"Thank you Sophia," Arthur said, smiling at the girl. "Though I'm sure I know I'm being watched, I really appreciate you warning me like that."

"You're welcome," Sophia said softly.

George squeezed her hand, thanking her making her smile slightly but she looked down to avoid his gaze.

**The lift doors opened. They had reached the Atrium. Mr. Weasley gave Sophia a scathing look and swept from the lift. Sophia stood there, shaken. She wished she was impersonating somebody other than Runcorn, who was obviously such a popular bloke…. **

Sirius snickered at his goddaughter's thoughts along with the Weasley kids, who found them just as amusing.

**The lift doors clanged shut.**

**Sophia pulled out the Invisibility Cloak and put it back on. She would try to extricate Hermione on her own while Ron was dealing with the raining office.**

"Well, at least I know where you are now," Ron pointed out.

**When the doors opened, she stepped out into a torch-lit stone passageway quite different from the wood-paneled and carpeted corridors above. As the left rattled away again, Sophia shivered slightly, looking toward the distant black door that marked the entrance to the Department of Mysteries.**

**She set off, her destination not the black door, but the doorway she remembered on the left hand side, which opened onto the flight of stairs down to the court chambers.**

"Huh, I suppose there's one good reason for my trial this summer," Sophia mused. "I doubt I would have had any clue where the courts were if I hadn't."

**Her mind grappled with possibilities as she crept down them: She still had a couple of Decoy Detonators, but perhaps it would be better to simply knock on the courtroom door, enter as Runcorn, and ask for a quick word with Mafalda? Of course, she did not know whether Runcorn was sufficiently important to get away with this, and even if she managed it, Hermione's non-reappearance might trigger a search before they were clear of the Ministry….**

"It seems to me that Runcorn does have that level of importance," Dumbledore said, "but I wouldn't use that means unless you have no other choice."

**Lost in thought, she did not immediately register the unnatural chill that was creeping over her, as if she were descending into fog.**

Sophia groaned, dementors... did she really have to see more of them. Umbridge, dementors and courtrooms, it looks like things won't be any greater in two years than now.

**It was becoming colder and colder with every step she took; a cold that reached right down her throat and tore at her lungs. And then she felt that stealing sense of despair, or hopelessness, filling her, expanding inside her….**

Everyone was shivering at this point and Sirius had a haunted expression.

Remus saw the look on his husband's face and quickly wrapped him in comforting arms.

_**Dementors**_**, she thought.**

**And as she reached the foot of the stairs and turned to her right she saw a dreadful scene. The dark passage outside the courtrooms was packed with tall, black-hooded figures, their faces completely hidden, their ragged breathing the only sound in the place. The petrified Muggle-borns brought in for questioning sat huddled and shivering on hard wooden benches.**

"They have dementors watching the Muggle-borns!" Hermione hissed, this angered her more than anything else.

"Well, of course, they are criminals after all," Draco said and she glared at him. "Hey, I didn't make the law..."

"But you probably like it," Fred hissed, and Draco shrugged indifferently.

**Most of them were hiding their faces in their hands, perhaps in an instinctive attempt to shield themselves from the dementors' greedy mouths. Some were accompanied by families, others sat alone. The dementors were gliding up and down in front of them, and the cold, and the hopelessness, and the despair of the place laid themselves upon Sophia like a curse….**

_**Fight it**_**, she told himself, but she knew that she could not conjure a Patronus here without revealing herself instantly. So she moved forward as silently as she could, and with every step she took numbness seemed to steal over her brain, but she forced himself to think of Hermione and of Ron, who needed her.**

"As if we need a scrawny git like you," Ron said, though he looked pleased that Sophia had thought of him to draw strength.

**Moving through the towering black figures was terrifying: The eyeless faces hidden beneath their hoods turned as she passed, and she felt sure that they sensed her, sensed, perhaps, a human presence that still had some hope, some resilience….**

"I'm sure that's it," Draco rolled his eyes.

"Actually they probably could," Remus said. "The dementors are not fooled by any disguise or cloaks, they would know that Sophia was there and wasn't like the others. However, they probably thought you were a Ministry employee or something."

Draco remained silent, not wanting to admit he had just been proven wrong.

**And then, abruptly and shockingly amid the frozen silence, one of the dungeon doors on the left of the corridor was flung open and screams echoed out of it.**

"**No, no, I'm half-blood, I'm half-blood, I tell you! My father was a wizard, he **_**was**_**, look him up, Arkie Alderton, he's a well-known broomstick designer, look him up, I tell you – get your hands off me, get your hands off –"**

"**This is your final warning," said Umbridge's soft voice, magically magnified so that it sounded clearly over the man's desperate screams. "If you struggle, you will be subjected to the Dementor's Kiss."**

Everyone shivered at that.

"That's despicable! That's atrocious!" Sirius shouted, his face still looking pale but his eyes now had a manic gleam in them. "A Dementor's Kiss... for struggling... that evil... twisted... vile toad... How could she say that?"

"She has no morals at all!" Remus agreed with his husband and was looking livid.

"We could have told you that before," Ron said to him in a steely voice.

"Hm... I wonder," Sophia said, she remembered Dumbledore almost mention this at her case, but it seemed so much more likely now, as she heard her complete disregard from anything. "She might have sent those dementors this summer."

"I wouldn't put it pass her," Hermione said in a deadly voice.

"We know it wasn't Voldemort that had sent them," Remus added.

"You do?" Sophia said, "why didn't you tell me that."

"I didn't think it was wise for you to know," Dumbledore said and Sophia glared at him. It was quite easy for Sophia to remember that she was angry with the headmaster at that moment. "And I have suspected that it was Dolores for some time now."

"Right," Sophia frowned and Molly chose to read.

**The man's screams subsided, but dry sobs echoed through the corridor.**

"**Take him away," said Umbridge.**

**Two dementors appeared in the doorway of the courtroom, their rotting, scabbed hands clutching the upper arms of a wizard who appeared to be fainting. They glided away down the corridor with him, and the darkness they trailed behind them swallowed him from sight.**

"**Next – Mary Cattermole," called Umbridge.**

Everyone sighed as the heard the name and Ron prayed that they could somehow help them after he had interfered the way he did.

**A small woman stood up; she was trembling from head to foot. Her dark hair was smoothed back into a bun and she wore long plain robes. Her face was completely bloodless. As she passed the dementors, Sophia saw her shudder.**

**She did it instinctively, without any sort of plan,**

"When do you ever have a plan?" Hermione teased.

"I sometimes have plans," Sophia mumbled, pouting.

**because she hated the sight of her walking alone into the dungeon: As the door began to swing closed, Sophia slipped into the courtroom behind her.**

**It was not the same room in which she had once been interrogated for improper use of magic. This one was much smaller, though the ceiling was quite as high it gave the claustrophobic sense of being stuck at the bottom of a deep well.**

"That's a good description," Dumbledore murmured, looking at the girl who preferred to study her and George's intertwined hands, than look at him.

**There were more dementors in here, casting their freezing aura over the place; they stood like faceless sentinels in the corners farthest from the high, raised platform. Here, behind a balustrade, sat Umbridge, with Yaxley on one side of her, and Hermione, quite as white-faced as Mrs. Cattermole, on the other.**

Hermione shivered at that, "I watch... that man... I just watch... I don't believe..."

"You didn't have a choice, Mione," Ron said softly.

"But..." Hermione said, her eyes pleading, she shouldn't have just watched, she should have tried to help this man somehow.

"There was nothing you could have done for him," Snape said, he knew exactly how Hermione felt at this moment, because he had to watch things like this plenty of times in his role as spy. "It is probably the hardest thing you will ever have to do, and not everyone can do it," he added. "But the truth is, the war would be over if you were captured... and the Dark Lord would have won."

"That doesn't really make me feel better," Hermione sighed.

**At the foot of the platform, a bight-silver, long-haired cat prowled up and down,**

"Argh... is that Umbridge's Patronus," Ginny groaned, she loved cats and hated that such a horrible person was represented by them.

**up and down, and Sophia realized that it was there to protect the prosecutors from the despair ****that emanated from the dementors: That was for the accused to feel, not the accusers.**

"You know I could do without these thoughts Sophia," Hermione said, still sounding upset about her role in the last case. "I don't need to hear your dark and accurate thoughts."

"Sorry Hermione, but you know I never really expected my thoughts to be printed in a book," Sophia said slightly annoyed.

"**Sit down," said Umbridge in her soft, silky voice.**

"Soft? Silky? Come on Sophia, those are two good things." Fred said with a mock stern expression on his face.

**Mrs. Cattermole stumbled to the single seat in the middle of the floor beneath the raised platform. The moment she had sat down, chains clinked out of the arms of the chair and bound her there.**

"**You are Mary Elizabeth Cattermole?" asked Umbridge.**

**Mrs. Cattermole gave a single, shaky nod.**

"**Married to Reginald Cattermole of the Magical Maintenance Department?"**

**Mrs. Cattermole burst into tears.**

"**I don't know where he is, he was supposed to meet me here!"**

Ron was the one that flinched this time and Hermione placed a hand over his. His ears went red when he turned it over so they were holding hands.

**Umbridge ignored her.**

"Heartless," Sophia hissed.

"**Mother to Maisie, Ellie and Alfred Cattermole?" Mrs. Cattermole sobbed harder than ever.**

"**They're frightened; they think that I might not come home –"**

"**Spare us," spat Yaxley. "The brats of Mudbloods do not stir our sympathies."**

"Bloody bastard!" Sirius shouted, his teeth clench in angry... he couldn't help but think of Sophia, who was the daughter of a muggle-born herself, when something like that was said.

**Mrs. Cattermole's sobs masked Sophia's footsteps as she made her way carefully toward the steps that led up to the raised platform. The moment she had passed the place where the Patronus cat patrolled, she felt the change in temperature: It was warm and comfortable here. The Patronus, she was sure, was Umbridge's, and it glowed brightly because she was so happy here, in her element, upholding the twisted laws she had helped to write.**

"Oh Sophia, you better do something to that wicked witch," Ginny hissed.

Sophia, Hermione and Tonks all snorted at that and Ginny looked at them.

"Sorry, the Wicked Witch was a character in a Muggle story," Hermione said. "It's called the Wizard of Oz and it was a movie..."

"Really, I would really love to hear what Muggles think wizards are like!" Arthur said excitedly.

"We'll have to show to the movie to you sometime," Hermione smiled, she thought it would be quite amusing to see their reactions to that movie.

**Slowly and very carefully she edged her way along the platform behind Umbridge, Yaxley, and Hermione, taking a seat behind the latter. She was worried about making Hermione jump. She thought of casting the ****_Muffliato _****charm**

Snape again narrowed his eyes at the use of this charm.

**upon Umbridge and Yaxley, but even murmuring the word might cause Hermione alarm. Then Umbridge raised her voice to address Mrs. Cattermole, and Sophia seized her chance.**

"**I'm behind you," she whispered into Hermione's ear.**

**As Sophia had expected, she jumped so violently she nearly overturned the bottle of ink with which she was supposed to be recording the interview, but both Umbridge and Yaxley were concentrating upon Mrs. Cattermole, and this went unnoticed.**

"I think I would have preferred to hear _Muffliato_," Hermione frowning.

"Sorry," Sophia shrugged.

"**A wand was taken from you upon your arrival at the Ministry today, Mrs. Cattermole," Umbridge was saying. "Eight-and-three-quarter inches, cherry, unicorn-hair core. Do you recognize the description?"**

**Mrs. Cattermole nodded, mopping her eyes on her sleeve.**

"**Could you please tell us from which witch or wizard you took that wand?"**

Hermione's nostrils began to flare at that question. _Took_! _She didn't take a bloody wand, she bought it!_

"**T-took?" sobbed Mrs. Cattermole. "I didn't t-take it from anybody. I b-bought it when I was eleven years old. It – it – it –****_chose _****me."**

**She cried harder than ever.**

**Umbridge laughed a soft girlish laugh that made Sophia want to attack her.**

Sophia couldn't deny that one, she wanted to attack that bloody woman now and she didn't even have to hear that toad's laughter.

**She leaned forward over the barrier, the better to observe her victim, and something gold swung forward too, and dangled over the void: the locket.**

"Yes!" Everyone in the room said.

"I told you so!" Ginny smirked.

**Hermione had seen it; she let out a little squeak, but Umbridge and Yaxley, still intent upon their prey, were deaf to everything else.**

"Hermione, you really need to learn to control your reactions better," Sophia said.

"I'm sorry," Hermione sighed.

"**No," said Umbridge, "no, I don't think so, Mrs. Cattermole. Wands only choose witches or ****wizards. You are not a witch. **

"Not a witch my arse," Sirius growled. Muggle-Borns were amazing witches and wizards, like Hermione and Lily.

**I have your responses to the questionnaire that was sent to you here – Mafalda, pass them to me."**

**Umbridge held out a small hand: She looked so toad like at that moment that Sophia was quite surprised not to see webs between the stubby fingers. Hermione's hands were shaking with shock. She fumbled in a pile of documents balanced on the chair beside her, finally withdrawing a sheaf of parchment with Mrs. Cattermole's name on it.**

"**That's – that's pretty, Dolores," she said, pointing at the pendant gleaming in the ruffled folds of Umbridge's blouse.**

"Why are you drawing attention to the locket, she's going to think of you when she it's gone?" Sirius said.

"I have to make sure it's really the locket," Hermione said.

"**What?" snapped Umbridge, glancing down. "Oh yes – an old family heirloom," she said, patting the locket lying on her large bosom. "The S stands for Selwyn…. I am related to the Selwyns….**

"What a bloody lair!" Sirius shouted.

"It's effing Slytherin's locket you dingbat!" Tonks added.

"Is she even related to the Selwyns?" Remus questioned.

"Well considering they all look like toads... probably," Sirius said. "but that's beside the point, she took the effing locket as a bribe and now she's using it as a safe guard to prove she's a pureblood!"

**Indeed, there are few pure-blood families to whom I am not related. …A pity," she continued in a louder voice, flicking through Mrs. Cattermole's questionnaire, "that the same cannot be said for you. '****_Parents professions: greengrocers_****'."**

**Yaxley laughed jeeringly. Below, the fluffy silver cat patrolled up and down, and the dementors stood waiting in the corners.**

**It was Umbridge's lie that brought the blood surging into Sophia's brain and obliterated her sense of caution – that the locket she had taken as a bribe from a petty criminal was being used to bolster her own pure-blood credentials.**

"Hey Soph... you think like me!" Sirius said and Sophia smiled at that.

**She raised her wand, not even troubling to keep it concealed beneath the Invisibility Cloak, and said, "****_Stupefy!_****"**

"Brilliant Soph!" Sirius said.

"Though we wouldn't have minded if you used a more severe curse on her," Charlie added.

**There was a flash of red light; Umbridge crumpled and her forehead hit the edge of the balustrade: Mrs. Cattermole's papers slid off her lap onto the floor and, down below, the prowling silver cat vanished. Ice-cold air hit them like an oncoming wind: Yaxley, confused, looked around for the source of the trouble and saw Sophia's disembodied hand and wand pointing at him. He tried to draw his own wand, but too late: "****_Stupefy!_****"**

"You do realize that he could have cursed you because of your thoughtless move?" Snape pointed out.

"I knew he didn't have his wand out, and it wouldn't be that difficult to curse him," Sophia said, confidently. "And I don't think its thoughtless... it's probably the best way for us to get out of there."

**Yaxley slid to the ground to lie curled on the floor.**

"**Sophia!"**

"**Hermione, if you think I was going to sit here and let her pretend –"**

"**Sophia, Mrs. Cattermole!"**

"Oh crap, the dementors!" Sirius said, knowing immediately what book-Hermione was screaming about.

**Sophia whirled around, throwing off the Invisibility Cloak; down below, the dementors had moved out of their corners; they were gliding toward the woman chained to the chair: Whether because the Patronus had vanished or because they sensed that their masters were no longer in control, they seemed to have abandoned restraint. Mrs. Cattermole let out a terrible scream of fear as a slimy, scabbed hand grasped her chin and forced her face back.**

Sirius shivered again... he knew exactly how that felt.

"_**EXPECTO PATRONUM!**_**"**

**The silver stag soared from the tip of Sophia's wand and leaped toward the dementors, which fell back and melted into the dark shadows again. The stag's light, more powerful and more warming than the cat's protection, filled the whole dungeon as it cantered around the room.**

"Was the Patronus really warmer or did Sophia just think it was?" Hermione asked, not Sophia, but Remus.

"I don't know," Remus said truthfully.

"Come on, Sophia's had to be warmer than that coldhearted bitch's Patronus," Sirius said.

"**Get the Horcrux," Sophia told Hermione.**

**She ran back down the steps, stuffing the Invisibility Cloak into her back, and approached Mrs. Cattermole.**

"**You?" she whispered, gazing into her face. "But – but Reg said you were the one who submitted my name for questioning!"**

"**Did I?" muttered Sophia, tugging at the chains binding her arms, "Well, I've had a change of heart. **_**Diffindo!**_**" Nothing happened. "Hermione, how do I get rid of these chains?"**

"I'm not sure if it's wise to say your real names," Percy said. "You don't want people to know that you're there."

"Actually, it wouldn't be so bad if they did know they were there... er... as long as they get out of the Ministry," Bill said thoughtfully. "Imagine what people would think if they heard that Sophia had gotten in and out of the Ministry without being caught!"

"I think it's a moot point at the minute," Ginny said, reasonably. "The only people that could tell on them are out cold."

"**Wait, I'm trying something up here –"**

"**Hermione, we're surrounded by dementors!"**

"**I know that, Sophia, but if she wakes up and the locket's gone – I need to duplicate it –****_Geminio! _****There… That should fool her…."**

"Ha," Hermione said looking at Sirius, "now it doesn't matter that I drew attention to the locket... she wouldn't know it's even gone... stupid toad that she is, I doubt she could tell it's fake."

"Sorry I ever doubted you Hermione, can you ever forgive me," Sirius said smiling at her.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, before she returned the smile.

**Hermione came running downstairs.**

"**Let's see….**_**Relashio!**_**"**

**The chains clinked and withdrew into the arms of the chair.**

"What would you ever do without Hermione?" Ginny questioned Sophia seriously.

"Crash and Burn," Sophia answered just as seriously.

**Mrs. Cattermole looked just as frightened as ever before.**

"**I don't understand," she whispered.**

"**You're going to leave here with us," said Sophia, pulling her to her feet. "Go home, grab your children, and get out, get out of the country if you've got to. Disguise yourselves and run. You've seen how it is; you won't get anything like a fair hearing here."**

"Good advice, Sophia," Dumbledore said smiling at Sophia; she was becoming a better leader with every passing year.

"**Sophia," said Hermione, "how are we going to get out of here with all those dementors outside the door?"**

"**Patronuses," said Sophia, pointing her wand at her own. Her stag, ****_Prongs_**** slowed and walked, still gleaming brightly, toward the door. **

"You call your Patronus, Prongs," Sirius said feeling very emotional at the moment.

"Yea, It reminds me of my dad," Sophia said with a fond smile on her face.

**"As many as we can muster; do yours, Hermione."**

"_**Expec – Expecto patronum,**_**" said Hermione. Nothing happened.**

Hermione frowned at that, she hated it when she couldn't do something.

"**It's the only spell she ever has trouble with," Sophia told a completely bemused Mrs. Cattermole.**

Now Hermione was glaring at Sophia, who was pointedly not looking at her as everyone else in the room was laughing at them.

"**Bit unfortunate, really… Come on Hermione…."**

'_**Expecto patronum!**_**"**

**A silver otter burst from the end of Hermione's wand and swam gracefully through the air to join Prongs, Sophia's stag.**

Hermione smiled now, thinking about her Patronus and dying to see what it looks like in person.

Sophia smiled happily as the book mentioned Prongs, her stag Patronus was one of her favorite things.

"**C'mon," said Sophia, and she led Hermione and Mrs. Cattermole to the door.**

**When the Patronuses glided out of the dungeon there were cries of shock from the people waiting outside. Sophia looked around; the dementors were falling back on both sides of them, melding into the darkness, scattering before the silver creatures.**

"**It's been decided that you should all go home and go into hiding with your families," Sophia told the waiting Muggle-born, who were dazzled by the light of the Patronuses and still cowering slightly. "Go abroad if you can. Just get well away from the Ministry. That's the – er – new official position. Now, if you'll just follow the Patronuses, you'll be able to leave the Atrium."**

"The new official position is it?" Sirius beamed. "I must say Soph, I've very proud that you're doing this."

"Thanks... er... but we don't know if it worked yet," Sophia said, uncomfortable as she always was about being complimented.

"It will," Fleur said, "and it would make Bill's story even better, if everyone knew that you came to the Ministry to free a bunch of Muggle-borns."

**They managed to get up the stone stops without being intercepted, but as they approached the lifts Sophia started to have misgivings. If they emerged into the Atrium with Prongs, a silver stag, and otter soaring alongside it, and twenty or so people, half of them accused Muggle-borns, she could not help feeling that they would attract unwanted attention. She had just reached this unwelcome conclusion when the lift clanged to a halt in front of them.**

"**Reg!" screamed Mrs. Cattermole, and she threw herself into Ron's arms. "Runcorn let me out, he attacked Umbridge and Yaxley, and he's told all of us to leave the country. I think we'd better do it, Reg, I really do, let's hurry home and fetch the children and – why are you so wet?"**

"**Water," muttered Ron, disengaging himself.**

Hermione rolled her eyes; he's as comforting as ever.

"**Sophia, they know there are intruders inside the Ministry, something about a hole in Umbridge's office door. I reckon we've got five minutes if that –"**

"You shouldn't have taken the eye," Tonks said, she knew it the moment she took it, it wasn't a good idea, but she would have done the same as her.

"I couldn't leave it there," Sophia sighed; she was seriously wishing she had.

**Hermione's Patronus vanished with a ****_pop _****as she turned a horror struck face to Sophia.**

"**Sophia, if we're trapped here –!"**

"**We won't be if we move fast," said Sophia. She addressed the silent group behind them, who were all gawping at her.**

Hermione smiled at Sophia, she always seemed to draw strength whenever they really needed her to.

"**Who's got wands?"**

**About half of them raised their hands.**

"**Okay, all of you who haven't got wands need to attach yourself to somebody who has. We'll need to be fast before they stop us. Come on."**

**They managed to cram themselves into two lifts. Sophia's Patronus stood sentinel before the golden grilles as they shut and the lifts began to rise.**

"**Level eight," said the witch's cool voice, "Atrium."**

**Sophia knew at once that they were in trouble. The Atrium was full of people moving from fireplace to fireplace, sealing them off.**

"Oh crap!" Sirius gasped and everyone was now tense. Molly voice now was strained, and the panic in it just made everyone even more nervous than before.

"**Sophia!" squeaked Hermione. "What are we going to –?"**

"**STOP!" Sophia thundered, and the powerful voice of Runcorn echoed through the Atrium: The wizards sealing the fireplaces froze. "Follow me," she whispered to the group of terrified Muggle-borns, who moved forward in a huddle, shepherded by Ron and Hermione.**

"**What's up, Albert?" said the same balding wizard who had followed Sophia out of the fireplace earlier. He looked nervous.**

"**This lot needs to leave before you seal the exits," said Sophia with all the authority she could muster in her deep man voice.**

Fred and George couldn't help but snort despite the situation.

Everyone was on their edge of their seats, wondering how Sophia was going to get out of here and hoping against hope that this Runcorn was important enough.

**The group of wizards in front of her looked at one another.**

"**We've been told to seal all exits and not let anyone –"**

"_**Are you contradicting me?**_**" Sophia blustered. "Would you like me to have your family tree examined, like I had Dirk Cresswell's?"**

"Brilliant Soph!" Sirius said and Snape and Draco looked at Sophia, impressed by this as well.

"**Sorry!" gasped the balding wizard, backing away. "I didn't mean nothing, Albert, but I thought… I thought they were in for questioning and…"**

"**Their blood is pure," said Sophia, and her deep voice echoed impressively through the hall. "Purer than many of yours, I daresay. Off you go,"**

"Don't push your luck, Sophia," Remus said, knowing that many of the Marauders' plans had gone arye because James or Sirius had embellished too much.

**she boomed to the Muggle-borns, who scurried forward into the fireplaces and began to vanish in pairs. The Ministry wizards hung back, some looking confused, others scared and fearful. Then:**

"**Mary!"**

**Mrs. Cattermole looked over her shoulder. The real Reg Cattermole, no longer vomiting but pale and wan, had just come running out of a lift.**

"Oh bloody hell!" Sirius groaned. "Why did he have to show up now?"

Arthur sighed, he knew that he would never let Molly face a trial like that on her own, and even being as violently sick as Reg was wouldn't keep him away for long. Even with that in mind, he still wished that Reg had just stayed home.

"**R- Reg?"**

**She looked from her husband to Ron, who swore loudly.**

**The balding wizard gaped, his head turning ludicrously from one Reg Cattermole to the other.**

"**Hey – what's going on? What is this?"**

"**Seal the exit! SEAL IT!"**

**Yaxley had burst out of another lift**

"You should have tied him up," Tonks groaned.

**and was running toward the group beside the fireplaces, into which all of the Muggle-borns but Mrs. Cattermole had now vanished. As the balding wizard lifted his wand, Sophia raised an enormous fist and punched him, sending him flying through the air.**

"What are you doing Sophia?" Molly questioned, she never thought Sophia would just sucker punch someone like that, though she found she didn't really care at the moment, she, and the others, needed to get out of there now!

"Don't know," Sophia shrugged and Molly read on.

"**He's been helping Muggle-borns escape, Yaxley!" Sophia shouted.**

"Oh... another good plan Soph!" Sirius said. "The more chaos the better."

**The balding wizard's colleagues set up and uproar, under cover of which Ron grabbed Mrs. Cattermole, pulled her into the still-open fireplace, and disappeared. Confused, Yaxley looked from Sophia to the punched wizard, while the real Reg Cattermole screamed, "My wife! Who was that with my wife? What's going on?"**

"Please shut up Reg," Arthur groaned, again he could sympathize with the other wizard.

**Sophia saw Yaxley's head turn, saw an inkling of truth dawn on that brutish face.**

"**Come on!" Sophia shouted at Hermione; she seized her hand and they jumped into the fireplace together as Yaxley's curse sailed over Sophia's head. They spun for a few seconds before shooting up out of a toilet into a cubicle. Sophia flung open the door: Ron was standing there beside the sinks, still wrestling with Mrs. Cattermole.**

"**Reg, I don't understand –"**

"**Let go, I'm not your husband, you've got to go home!"**

**There was a noise in the cubicle behind them; Sophia looked around; Yaxley had just appeared.**

"You have to get out of there now!" Molly moaned, and before anyone else could say a word she was reading again**.**

"**LET'S GO!" Sophia yelled. She seized Hermione by the hand and Ron by the arm and turned on the stop.**

**Darkness engulfed them, along with the sensation of compressing hands, but something was wrong…. Hermione's hand seemed to be sliding out of her grip….**

"NO!" several people said, none louder than Ron.

"Yaxley's got a hold of her!" Remus said.

"Not good, definitely not good," Sirius said.

"But he can't get into the barriers of Grimmauld Place, can he?" Fred said.

"I mean, this place is supposed to be safe from something like that," George added.

"If Dumbledore was still the sole Secret keeper that would be the case," Remus said gravely. "But I'm afraid that it's likely that he will be able to get through the charm now... after all it is like they're letting him know the secret by Apparating him there."

"Damit!" several people groaned again.

**She wondered whether she was going to suffocate; she could not breathe or see and the only solid things in the world were Ron's arm and Hermione's fingers, which were slowly slipping away….**

Ron shivered at that and Molly started reading faster.

**And then she saw the door to number twelve, Grimmauld Place, with its serpent door knocker, but before she could draw breath, there was a scream and a flash of purple light: Hermione's hand was suddenly ****vise like ****upon her and everything went dark again.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Molly said, holding the book out for someone to read, her expression clearing saying that she needed someone to start reading quickly.

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Arthur said, "it seems like Hermione acted quickly."

"I know," Molly said as Ginny took the book from her. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop worrying."

"Nothing will ever stop you from worrying," Arthur smiled, "and after all the ways I've tried, I know that better than anyone."

"Doesn't stop you from trying though," Molly pointed out, knowing that Arthur was trying his hardest now to keep her calm and she loved him from it.

"Well, Weasleys are known for their stubbornness after all," Arthur shrugged, and then looked at his daughter, waiting for her to read.

* * *

I really liked the idea of Phoenix tears and I really want Fred to live so I was just thinking of a pairing for him. What do you think. I thought Luna?


	14. Chapter 14: The Thief

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

* * *

**"The Thief," **Ginny read.

**Sophia opened her eyes and was dazzled by gold and green; she had no idea what had happened, she only knew that she was lying on what seemed to be leaves and twigs. Struggling to draw breath into lungs that felt flattened, she blinked and realized that the gaudy glare was sunlight streaming through a canopy of leaves far above her. Then an object twitched close to her face. She pushed herself onto her hands and knees, ready to face some small, fierce creature, but saw that the object was Ron's foot. Looking around, Sophia saw that they and Hermione were lying on a forest floor, apparently alone.**

"Good," Molly sighed, she was afraid that someone might have been with them.

**Sophia's first thought was of the Forbidden Forest,**

"You can't Apparate into the Forbidden Forest, Potter, it is part of Hogwarts grounds," Snape sneered. "One would have thought you would know that by now at least."

Sophia decided to give him a very rude gesture when he turned away.

**and for a moment, even though she knew how foolish and dangerous it would be for them to appear in the grounds of Hogwarts, her heart leapt at the thought of sneaking through the trees to Hagrid's hut.**

Sophia sighed at that; even as things are now, with toad face trying to take over the castle, she missed Hogwarts. So she knew her book-self would not say no to going back.

**However, in the few moments it took for Ron to give a low groan and Sophia to start crawling toward him, she realized that this was not the Forbidden Forest; The trees looked younger, they were more widely spaced, the ground clearer.**

**She met Hermione, also on her hands and knees, at Ron's head. The moment her eyes fell upon Ron, all other concerns fled Sophia's mind, for blood drenched the whole of Ron's left side**

"NO!" Molly and Hermione both moaned, and all the Weasleys and Sophia looked pale.

"He's all right though... right?" Hermione said, looking at Ginny, who was reading. Ginny's only response to that was to continue reading.

**and his face stood out, grayish-white, against the leaf-strewn earth. The Polyjuice Potion was wearing off now: Ron was halfway between Cattermole and himself in appearance, his hair turning redder and redder as his face drained of the little color it had left.**

"**What's happened to him?"**

"**Splinched," said Hermione,**

Everyone winched at that knowing how serious that could be, and how dangerous it would be if it was too bad. It's not like they could go back for any body parts that were missing.

**her fingers already busy at Ron's sleeve, where the blood was wettest and darkest.**

**Sophia watched, horrified, as she tore open Ron's short. She had always thought of Splinching as something comical,**

"Comical... Sophia Splinching is not comical!" Molly reprimanded.

"I know," Sophia agreed, this was definitely not funny at all.

**but this . . . Her insides crawled unpleasantly as Hermione laid bare Ron's upper arm, where a great chunk of flesh was missing, scooped cleanly away as though by a knife.**

Another round of wincing from everyone in the room, even Snape and Draco were disturbed by this.

"**Sophia, quickly, in my bag, there's a small bottle labeled 'Essence of Dittany'–"**

"Good," Molly said, though she wish she was there so she could have healed the wound properly, or that they could just go to St. Mungo's, but at least with Dittany, no farther damage could be done, and it would stop the bleeding.

"**Bag – right –"**

**Sophia sped to the place where Hermione had landed, seized the tiny beaded bag, and thrust her hand inside it.**

"You'll never find it that way, not with all that's in there," Bill said.

"Especially since you don't know what it feels like," Tonks added, "you need to summon it."

**At once, object after object began presenting itself to her touch: She felt the leather spines of books, woolly sleeves of jumpers, heels of shoes –**

"_**Quickly!**_**"**

**She grabbed her wand from the ground and pointed it into the depths of the magical bag.**

"_**Accio Dittany!**_**"**

**A small brown bottle zoomed out of the bag; she caught it and hastened back to Hermione and Ron, whose eyes were now half-closed, strips of white eyeball all that were visible between his lids.**

Hermione moaned and grabbed Ron's hand. Ginny's voice shook as she read and Arthur's was holding Molly closely to him, both looking troubled.

"**He's fainted," said Hermione, who was also rather pale; she no longer looked like Mafalda, though her hair was still gray in places. "Unstopper it for me, Sophia, my hands are shaking."**

**Sophia wrenched the stopper off the little bottle; Hermione took it and poured three drops of the potion onto the bleeding wound.**

Snape raised an eyebrow, he was expecting the girl to be careless with the use of the potion, pouring far more than was necessary in her haste to heal her friend, but she used the exact about that was needed. He was sure that she realized that they were on a dangerous mission and they had to be careful at how they used this potion.

**Greenish smoke billowed upward and when it had cleared, Sophia saw that the bleeding had stopped. The wound now looked several days old; new skin stretched over what had just been open flesh.**

Molly nodded her head at the description.

"**Wow," said Sophia.**

"**It's all I feel safe doing," said Hermione shakily. "There are spells that would put him completely right, but I daren't try in case I do them wrong and cause more damage. . . . He's lost so much blood already. . . ."**

"A wise move," Remus said, "for healing spells can be very dangerous indeed if done incorrectly."

"But what spell has Mione ever done incorrectly," Ron smiled at her.

"There's no way I'm going to chance your safety on something like this," Hermione said softly, she was sure she was the reason he was hurt in the first place... and she couldn't bare it if she hurt him farther.

"**How did he get hurt? I mean" – Sophia shook her head, trying to clear it, to make sense of whatever had just taken place – "why are we here? I thought we were going back to Grimmauld Place?"**

**Hermione took a deep breath. She looked close to tears.**

"**Sophia, I don't think we're going to be able to go back there."**

"**What d'you –?"**

"**As we Disapparated, Yaxley caught hold of me and I couldn't get rid of him, he was too strong, and he was still holding on when we arrived at Grimmauld Place, and then – well, I think he must have seen the door, and thought we were stopping there, so he slackened his grip and I managed to shake him off and I brought us here instead!"**

"Sorry... it's my fault that you're hurt," Hermione said in a shaky voice.

"Don't be stupid Mione, if you hadn't Apparated us all out of there, we probably would have been caught," Ron rolled his eyes. "You saved us."

"**But then, where's he? Hang on. . . . You don't mean he's at Grimmauld Place? He can't get in there?"**

**Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she nodded.**

"**Sophia, I think he can. I – I forced him to let go with a Revulsion Jinx, but I'd already taken him inside the Fidelius Charm's protection. Since Dumbledore died, we're Secret-Keepers, so I've ****given him the secret, haven't I?"**

"It wasn't you that gave him the secret, I was the one that Apparated us to Grimmauld Place," Sophia told her.

"Argh, that doesn't really matter," Ron rolled his eyes. "We went to the bloody Ministry, where just about everyone in the building was trying to capture us and all we lost was our safe house and I got a bloody arm... It could have been a lot worse than it is, so stop trying to take the blame for things."

Sophia and Hermione smiled at Ron (though Hermione's smile was still weak as she worried how bad Ron's injuries were).

**There was no pretending; Sophia was sure she was right. It was a serious blow. If Yaxley could now get inside the house, there was no way that they could return. Even now, he could be bringing other Death Eaters in there by Apparition. Gloomy and oppressive though the house was, it had been their one safe refuge; even, now that Kreacher was so much happier and friendlier, a kind of home. With a twinge of regret that had nothing to do with food, Sophia imagined the house-elf busying himself over the steak-and-kidney pie that Sophia, Ron, and Hermione would never eat.**

"Hm... I think most of my regret would go toward not being able to eat that," Ron said and Hermione glared at him.

"How can you be so insensitive?" she hissed.

"Er... Hermione, have you meet Ron, he's the most insensitive git in the world," Ginny said.

Ron stuck his tongue out at her but Hermione knew that wasn't always true. Sometime Ron really surprised her with how sensitive he can be.

"**Sophia, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"**

"**Don't be stupid, it wasn't your fault! If anything, it was mine. . . ."**

"It's nice to know that you two won't change much in a year and half," Fred chuckled.

**Sophia put her hand in her pocket and drew out Mad-Eye's eye. Hermione recoiled, looking horrified.**

"**Umbridge had stuck it to her office door, to spy on people. I couldn't leave it there . . . but that's how they knew there were intruders."**

"You would still have found it difficult getting out of the Ministry with all of those Muggle-borns even if you didn't take the eye," Tonks said. "They would have questioned what you were doing."

**Before Hermione could answer, Ron groaned and opened his eyes. He was still gray and his face glistened with sweat.**

"**How d'you feel?" Hermione whispered.**

"**Lousy," croaked Ron, wincing as he felt his injured arm. "Where are we?"**

"**In the woods where they held the Quidditch World Cup," said Hermione. "I wanted somewhere enclosed, undercover, and this was –"**

"– **the first place you thought of," Sophia finished for her, glancing around at the apparently deserted glade. She could not help remembering what had happened the last time they had Apparated to the first place Hermione had thought of – how Death Eaters had found them within minutes.**

Everyone shivered at that hoping that nothing like that happened again.

"I think they are okay," Sirius said after pausing a second to think, "the Death Eaters would have been there by now if they were coming."

**Had it been Legilimency? Did Voldemort or his henchmen know, even now, where Hermione had taken them?**

"**D'you reckon we should move on?" Ron asked Sophia, and Sophia could tell by the look on Ron's face that he was thinking the same.**

"**I dunno." Ron still looked pale and clammy. He had made no attempt to sit up and it looked as though he was too weak to do so. The prospect of moving him was daunting.**

Ron frowned at this, he was a weakness to his friends... he was putting them in more danger because he couldn't be moved.

"**Let's stay here for now," Sophia said.**

**Looking relieved, Hermione sprang to her feet.**

"**Where are you going?" asked Ron.**

"Ah... I think little Ronniekins wants you to hold his hand," Fred said.

"And tell him that everything going to be okay," George added, the two of them laughing.

"Shut up," Ron said, his ears red.

"**If we're staying, we should put some protective enchantments around the place," she replied, and raising her wand, she began to walk in a wide circle around Sophia and Ron, murmuring incantations as she went. Sophia saw little disturbances in the surrounding air: It was as if Hermione had cast a heat haze upon their clearing.**

"Good thinking Miss Granger, it's good to know that at least one of you is prepared," McGonagall said, smiling at Hermione.

"**_Salvio Hexia . . . Protego Totalum . . . Repello Muggletum . . . Muffliato . . ._****You could get out the tent, Sophia. . . ."**

"**Tent?"**

"And you even thought of shelter," Molly added approvingly.

"**In the bag!"**

"**In the . . . of course," said Sophia.**

**She did not bother to grope inside it this time, but used another Summoning Charm. The tent emerged in a lumpy mass of canvas, ropes, and poles. Sophia recognized it, partly because of the smell of cats, as the same tent in which they had slept on the night of the Quidditch World Cup.**

"Well, that should do nicely," Sophia said, though of course she could have done without the cat smell. "But didn't that tent belong to your friend Perkins, Mr. Weasley?"

"Yes, but when I tried to give it back to him he said he couldn't use it anymore," Arthur said. "I must have lent it to Hermione so you can use it."

"**I thought this belonged to that bloke Perkins at the Ministry?" she asked, starting to disentangle the pent pegs.**

"**Apparently he didn't want it back, his lumbago's so bad," said Hermione, now performing complicated figure-of-eight movements with her wand. "so Ron's dad said I could borrow it. **_**Erecto!**_**" she added, pointing her wand at the misshapen canvas, which in one fluid motion rose into the air and settled, fully constructed, onto the ground before Sophia, out of whose startled hands a tent peg soared, to land with a final thud at the end of a guy rope.**

"_**Cave Inimicum,**_**" Hermione finished with a skyward flourish. "That's as much as I can do. At the very least, we should know they're coming; I can't guarantee it will keep out Vol –"**

"**Don't say the name!" Ron cut across her, his voice harsh.**

"Ron, when are you going to get over that," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Says the girl that still stutters on his name," Ron grumbled.

"At least I can say it," Hermione huffed and Ginny started reading before Ron and Hermione could argue anymore**.**

**Sophia and Hermione looked at each other.**

"**I'm sorry," Ron said, moaning a little as he raised himself to look at them, "but it feels like a – a jinx or something. Can't we call him You-Know-Who – please?"**

"A jinx!" Fred said. "Come on Ronnie, just admit that you're afraid of saying the name... don't come up with lame excuses."

Dumbledore, however, raised an eyebrow at that. He wasn't sure if it really was plausible for Voldemort to jinx his name, but he could see how useful that would be to the dark side. Only Order members or those opposing Voldemort would use the name.

"**Dumbledore said fear of a name –" began Sophia.**

"**In case you hadn't noticed, mate, calling You-Know-Who by his name didn't do Dumbledore much good in the end," Ron snapped back.**

Ron flushed slightly at that as he looked at his headmaster shyly, "Sorry sir."

"That's alright, though I think my death had little to do with my saying Voldemort's name," Dumbledore said serenely.

"**Just – just show You-Know-Who some respect, will you?"**

"Respect!" Sophia hissed, "I will not show that bastard any respect!"

"Sorry," Ron mumbled again, looking down.

"_**Respect?**_**" Sophia repeated, but Hermione shot her a warning look; apparently she was not to argue with Ron while the latter was in such a weakened condition.**

"Too bad I didn't get the benefit of that look now," Ron grumbled, which caused Sophia to actually smile a little.

**Sophia and Hermione half carried, half dragged Ron through the entrance of the tent. The interior was exactly as Sophia remembered it; a small flat, complete with bathroom and tiny kitchen. She shoved aside an old armchair and lowered Ron carefully onto the lower berth of a bunk bed. Even this very short journey had turned Ron whiter still, and once they had settled him on the mattress he closed his eyes again and did not speak for a while.**

"**I'll make some tea," said Hermione breathlessly, pulling kettle and mugs from the depths of her bag and heading toward the kitchen.**

**Sophia found the hot drink as welcome as the firewhisky**

"Come now Soph, the firewhisky had to be better," Fred said.

"Fred!" his mother hissed but he ignored her.

**had been on the night that Mad-Eye had died; it seemed to burn away a little of the fear fluttering in her chest. After a minute or two, Ron broke the silence.**

"**What d'you reckon happened to the Cattermoles?"**

"**With any luck, they'll have got away," said Hermione, clutching her hot mug for comfort. "As long as Mr. Cattermole had his wits about him, he'll have transported Mrs. Cattermole by Side-Along-Apparition and they'll be fleeing the country right now with their children. That's what Sophia told her to do."**

"I'm sure they got away, if Reg didn't think of it, Mary would have made sure that happened," Arthur said when he noticed several people looking at him.

"**Blimey, I hope they escaped," said Ron, leaning back on his pillows. The tea seemed to be doing him good; a little of his color had returned. "I didn't get the feeling Reg Cattermole was all that ****quick-witted, though, the way everyone was talking to me when I was him.**

"No Ronniekins, they just realized that you were somehow impersonating him and were trying to make sure you could keep up," Fred teased.

"Can't you two ever be nice..." Hermione glared at the twins.

"Hey, I didn't say anything!" George complained.

"Ron can be very quick-witted," Hermione continued as if she didn't hear George at all.

**God, I hope they made it. . . . If they both end up in Azkaban because of us . . ."**

"Wow, Ron, you really can be considerate!" Ginny teased her brother, though she knew better than anyone about this.

**Sophia looked over at Hermione and the question she had been about to ask – about whether Mrs. Cattermole's lack of a wand would prevent her Apparating alongside her husband –**

"No, that wouldn't have prevent that," Dumbledore answer the question. "When you side-along Apparate someone the only magic that is being use is your own. You would even be able to Apparate Muggles if you needed to."

**died in her throat. Hermione was watching Ron fret over the fate of the Cattermoles, and there was such tenderness in her expression that Sophia felt almost as if he had surprised her in the act of kissing him.**

The amusement was evident in Ginny's voice as she read this, and the twins 'aw' at the appropriate time, which had Ron and Hermione blushing and looking away from each other. Ron had a goofy smile on his face, and Hermione glaring slightly at Sophia; did she have to notice that?

Sophia was giving her a 'what do you me to do' look.

"**So, have you got it?" Sophia asked her, partly to remind her that she was there.**

"Aw... Sophia you should have let them have their moment," Fred sighed.

Both Ron and Hermione blushed.

"**Got – got what?" she said with a little start.**

"**What did we just go through all that for? The locket! Where's the locket?"**

"_**You got it?**_**" shouted Ron, raising himself a little higher on his pillows. "No one tells me anything!**

"We didn't really have time to tell you," Hermione attempted to speak in a normal voice but it was clear she was still embarrassed.

**Blimey, you could have mentioned it!"**

"**Well, we were running for our lives from the Death Eaters, weren't we?" said Hermione. "Here."**

**And she pulled the locket out of the pocket of her robes and handed it to Ron.**

**It was as large as a chicken's egg. An ornate letter **_**S**_**, inlaid with many small green stones, glinted dully in the diffused light shining through the tent's canvas roof.**

"No wondered you chucked it, that thing is hideous," Tonks observed, still wondering how a person could wear it because they thought it looked good.

"**There isn't any chance someone's destroyed it since Kreacher had it?" asked Ron hopefully. "I mean, are we sure it's still a Horcrux?"**

"**I think so," said Hermione, taking it back from him and looking at it closely. "There'd be some sign of damage if it had been magically destroyed."**

"True, considering how you would have to destroy a Horcrux, there would definitely be extensive damage to the object," Dumbledore said.

**She passed it to Sophia, who turned it over in her fingers. The thing looked perfect, pristine. She remembered the mangled remains of the diary, and how the stone in the Horcrux ring had been cracked open when Dumbledore destroyed it.**

"**I reckon Kreacher's right," said Sophia. "We're going to have to work out how to open this thing before we can destroy it."**

"Yes, and you'll have to have the means to destroy the Horcrux before you open it," Remus said, not liking the idea of them finding out how to open this without being able to destroy it.

**Sudden awareness of what she was holding, of what lived behind the little golden doors, hit Sophia as she spoke. Even after all their efforts to find it, she felt a violent urge to fling the locket from her.**

"Er... have you gone metal, mate?" Ron questioned.

"Don't know," Sophia shrugged. "But I don't really fancy having a piece of Voldemort's soul near me."

Ron nodded, he wouldn't want that thing close to him either.

**Mastering himself again, she tried to pry the locket apart with her fingers, then attempted the charm Hermione had used to open Regulus' bedroom door. Neither worked. She handed the locket back to Ron and Hermione, each of whom did their best, but were no more successful at opening it than she had been.**

"Why don't you try speaking to it in Parseltongue, Potter?" Draco said. "It would make sense that Slytherin would seal his locket in a way that only he or his kin would be able to open it."

"It's a good idea," Dumbledore agreed.

"**Can you feel it, though?" Ron asked in a hushed voice, as he held it tight in his clenched fist.**

"**What d'you mean?" Ron passed the Horcrux to Sophia. After a moment or two, Sophia thought she knew what Ron meant. Was it her own blood pulsing through her veins that she could feel, or was it something beating inside the locket, like a tiny metal heart?**

Everyone shivered as Ginny's voice got tight, she didn't like reading about this... it made her think of the diary.

"**What are we going to do with it?" Hermione asked.**

"**Keep it safe till we work out how to destroy it." Sophia replied, and, little though she wanted to, she hung the chain around her own neck, dropping the locket out of sight beneath her robes, where it rested against her chest beside the pouch Hagrid had given her.**

"**I think we should take it in turns to keep watch outside the tent," she added to Hermione, standing up and stretching. "And we'll need to think about some food as well. You stay there," she added sharply, as Ron attempted to sit up and turned a nasty shade of green.**

"Thank you Sophia," Molly nodded, she knew Ron shouldn't be trying to walk after being splinched.

**With the Sneakoscope Hermione had given Sophia for her birthday set carefully upon the table in the tent, Sophia and Hermione spent the rest of the day sharing the role of lookout. However, the Sneakoscope remained silent and still upon its point all day, and whether because of the protective enchantments and Muggle-repelling charms Hermione had spread around them, or because people rarely ventured this way, their patch of wood remained deserted, apart from occasional birds and squirrels.**

"I would think they were Miss Granger's charms," McGonagall said, "I'm sure she would have cast them perfectly."

"If you keep saying things like that, I'm going to start to think that you might like Hermione more than me," Fred said pouting.

McGonagall rolled her eyes as the twins and Sirius laughed.

**Evening brought no change; Sophia lit her wand as she swapped places with Hermione at ten o'clock, and looked out upon a deserted scene, noting the bats fluttering high above her across the single patch of starry sky visible from their protected clearing.**

**She felt hungry now, and a little light-headed. Hermione had not packed any food**

Molly sighed; she knew her son wasn't going to be too happy if he didn't get fed properly.

**in her magical bag, as she had assumed that they would be returning to Grimmauld Place that night, so they had had nothing to eat except some wild mushrooms that Hermione had collected from amongst the nearest trees and stewed in a Billycan.**

"Eck," Ron groaned. "That sounds horrible."

"Yeah," Sophia and Hermione agreed.

**After a couple of mouthfuls Ron had pushed his portion away, looking queasy; Sophia had only persevered so as to not hurt Hermione's feelings.**

"I don't think it would have hurt my feelings," Hermione informed.

**The surrounding silence was broken by odd rustlings and what sounded like crackings of twigs: Sophia thought that they were caused by animals rather than people, yet she kept her wand held tight at the ready. Her insides, already uncomfortable due to their inadequate helping of rubbery mushrooms, tingled with unease.**

**She had though that she would feel elated if they managed to steal back the Horcrux, but somehow she did not; all she felt as she sat looking out at the darkness, of which her wand lit only a tiny part,****was worry about what would happen next. It was as though she had been hurtling toward this point for weeks, months, maybe even years, but how she had come to an abrupt halt, run out of road.**

"Oh great," Sophia groaned. "I have no idea what to do now."

"What else is new?" Draco questioned. "When do you ever have a clue?"

Sophia just shook her head at him with an exasperated look on her face.

**There were other Horcruxes out there somewhere, but she did not have the faintest idea where they could be. She did not even know what all of them were.**

"What does that mean?" Sophia said.

"I believe it means that you don't know all of the objects that Voldemort had used to put his Horcruxes in," Dumbledore said.

**Meanwhile she was at a loss to know how to destroy the only one that they had found, the Horcrux that currently lay against the bare flesh of her chest. Curiously, it had not taken heat from her body, but lay so cold against her skin it might just have emerged from icy water. From time to time Sophia thought, or perhaps imagined, that she could feel the tiny heartbeat ticking irregularly alongside her own. Nameless forebodings crept upon her as she sat there in the dark. She tried to resist them, push them away, yet they came at her relentlessly. **_**Neither can live while the other survives**_**. Ron and Hermione, now talking softly behind her in the tent, could walk away if they wanted to: She could not.**

"We can't walk away Soph," Hermione said softly.

"I know," Sophia said, "but it's not exactly the same thing... Voldemort won't let me get away whether I want to fight him or not."

**And it seemed to Sophia as she sat there trying to master her own fear and exhaustion, that the Horcrux against her chest was ticking away the time she had left. . . .**_**Stupid idea**_**, she told herself, **_**don't think that**_**. . . .**

Dumbledore's grimace deepened the longer Sophia talked about the Horcrux like this, and he wasn't liking the sound of this at all.

**Her scar was starting to prickle again. She was afraid that she was making it happen by having these thoughts, and tried to direct them into another channel. She thought of poor Kreacher, who had expected them home and had received Yaxley instead.**

"Don't worry, Kreacher should be fine," Sirius said. "He is supposedly helping my cousin right now, so the Death Eaters would think he was on their side."

"I just hope he doesn't try to defend me against them," Sophia mumbled. She was sure that would have the Death Eater torture the elf, and she didn't like to think of the Kreacher in the last few chapters going through that.

**Would the elf keep silent or would he tell the Death Eater everything he knew?**

"And don't worry about that either Sophia, Kreacher can act," Sirius said. "He really likes you and he wouldn't betray your secrets no matter what.

**Sophia wanted to believe that Kreacher had changed towards her in the past month, that he would be loyal now, but who knew what would happen? What if the Death Eaters tortured the elf? Sick images swarmed into Sophia's head and she tried to push these away too, for there was nothing she could do for Kreacher: She and Hermione had already decided against trying to summon her; what if someone from the Ministry came too? They could not count on elfish Apparition being free from the same flaw that had taken Yaxley to Grimmauld Place on the hem of Hermione's sleeve.**

**Sophia's scar was burning now. She thought that there was so much they did not know: Remus had been right about magic they had never encountered or imagined. Why hadn't Dumbledore explained more? Had he thought that there would be time; that he would live for years, for centuries perhaps, like his friend Nicolas Flamel?**

"I'm sure I didn't believe I would live for centuries," Dumbledore said, "I have no wish to prolong my life by magical means like that."

"He probably just thought he had more time," Remus said.

**If so, he had been wrong. . . . Snape had seen to that. . . . Snape, the sleeping snake, who had struck at the top of the tower . . .**

**And Dumbledore had fallen . . . fallen . . .**

"_**Give it to me, Gregorovitch.**_**"**

"Oh crap... more Voldemort," Sirius groaned.

**Sophia's voice was high, clear, and cold, her wand held in front of her by a long-fingered white hand. The man at whom she was pointing was suspended upside down in midair, though there were no ropes holding him; he swung there, invisibly and eerily bound, his limbs wrapped about him, his terrified face, on a level with Sophia's ruddy due to the blood that had rushed to his head. He had pure-white hair and a thick, bushy beard: a trussed-up Father Christmas.**

"**I have it not, I have it no more! It was, many years ago, stolen from me!"**

"**Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Gregorovitch. He knows. . . . He always knows."**

"How does he know the guy is lying?" George questioned.

"He doesn't, he just assumes that he is," Dumbledore said, "for most people tend to lie to him when he wants something of value."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Fred said. "I mean lying to him."

"In Gregorovitch's position, it's no more dangerous than telling the truth," Dumbledore said gravely, not adding that he knew Gregorovitch was telling the truth.

**The hanging man's pupils were wide, dilated with fear, and they seemed to swell, bigger and bigger until their blackness swallowed Sophia whole –**

**And how Sophia was hurrying along a dark corridor in stout little Gregorovitch's wake as he held a lantern aloft: Gregorovitch burst into the room at the end of the passage and his lantern illuminated what looked like a workshop; wood shavings and gold gleamed in the swinging pool ****of light, and there on the window ledge sat perched, like a giant bird, a young man with golden hair. In the split second that the lantern's light illuminated him, Sophia saw the delight upon his handsome face, then the intruder shot a Stunning Spell from his wand and jumped neatly backward out of the window with a crow of laughter.**

Dumbledore frowned at the description of his old friend.

**And Sophia was hurtling back out of those wide, tunnel like pupils and Gregorovitch's face was stricken with terror.**

"What was that?" Sophia questioned.

"Voldemort was using Legilimency on Gregorovitch," Dumbledore said.

"_**Who was the thief, Gregorovitch?**_**" said the high cold voice.**

"**_I do not know, I never knew, a young man – no – please – PLEASE!"_**

**A scream that went on and on and then a burst of green light –**

"He killed him... but I thought he wanted to know about Sophia's wand?" Charlie said.

"It seems that we were wrong about that," Remus frowned. "It seems that Voldemort is after whatever it was that this thief stole."

"And we have no idea what that might be," Sirius grimaced.

"Well it might be safe to suspect that it might be a wand, considering what Gregorovitch does for a living," Snape said smirking.

"Shut up Snape." Sirius said with a glare.

"_**Sophia!**_**"**

**She opened her eyes, panting, her forehead throbbing. She had passed out against the side of the tent, had slid sideways down the canvas, and was sprawled on the ground. She looked up at Hermione, whose bushy hair obscured the tiny patch of sky visible through the dark branches high above them.**

"**Dream," she said, sitting up quickly and attempting to meet Hermione's glower with a look of innocence. "Must've dozed off, sorry."**

The glare that Hermione was giving her now was much the same as the one in the book. Honestly, how could Sophia ever believe that she would believe that nonsense?

"**I know it was your scar! I can tell by the look on your face! You were looking into Vol –"**

"**Don't say his name!" came Ron's angry voice from the depths of the tent.**

"Argh... that's going to get annoying," Sophia groaned.

"Sorry," Ron mumbled.

"_**Fine**_**," retorted Hermione, "**_**You-Know-Who**_**'s mind, then!"**

"**I didn't mean it to happen!" Sophia said. "It was a dream! Can ****_you _****control what you dream ****about, Hermione?"**

"**If you just learned to apply Occlumency –"**

**But Sophia was not interested in being told off; she wanted to discuss what she had just seen.**

"When do you ever have an interest in being told off?" Hermione questioned. "Just so I know when I should do it."

"Never... never would be nice," Sophia said to her.

"That's never going to happen, mate," Ron said.

"Doesn't hut to try though," Sophia countered with a smirk.

"**He's found Gregorovitch, Hermione, and I think he's killed him, but before he killed him he read Gregorovitch's mind and I saw –"**

"**I think I'd better take over the watch if you're so tired you're falling sleep," said Hermione coldly.**

"**I can finish the watch!"**

"**No, you're obviously exhausted. Go and lie down."**

"Dismissed," Fred said, chuckling.

"I wouldn't argue with her right now, mate," Ron added.

**She dropped down in the mouth of the tent, looking stubborn. Angry, but wishing to avoid a row, Sophia ducked back inside.**

"Good on you Soph," Sirius said with a chuckle.

**Ron's still-pale face was poking out from the lower bunk; Sophia climbed into the one above him, lay down, and looked up at the dark canvas ceiling. After several moments, Ron spoke in a voice so low that it would not carry to Hermione, huddle in the entrance.**

"**What's You-Know-Who doing?"**

Hermione turned her glare onto Ron making him shift uncomfortably.

**Sophia screwed up her eyes in the effort to remember every detail, then whispered into the darkness.**

"**He found Gregorovitch. He had him tied up, he was torturing him."**

"**How's Gregorovitch supposed to make him a new wand if he's tied up?"**

"**I dunno. . . . It's weird, isn't it?"**

**Sophia closed her eyes, thinking of all that she had seen and heard. The more she recalled, the less sense it made. . . . Voldemort had said nothing about Sophia's wand, nothing about the twin cores, nothing about Gregorovitch making a new and more powerful wand to beat Sophia's. . . .**

"**He wanted something from Gregorovitch," Sophia said, eyes still closed tight. "He asked him to hand it over, but Gregorovitch said it had been stolen from him . . . and then . . . then . . ."**

**She remembered how she, as Voldemort, had seemed to hurtle through Gregorovitch's eyes, into his memories. . . .**

"**He read Gregorovitch's mind, and I saw this young bloke perched on a windowsill, and he fired a curse at Gregorovitch and jumped out of sight. He stole it, he stole whatever You-Know-Who's after. And I . . . I think I've seen him somewhere. . . ."**

"Really... where?" Ron questioned.

"I don't know," Sophia said. "I didn't actually see him."

Dumbledore however could easily see the connection.

**Sophia wished she could have another glimpse of the laughing boy's face. The theft had happened many years ago, according to Gregorovitch. Why did the young thief look familiar?**

**The noises of the surrounding woods were muffled inside the tent; all Sophia could hear was Ron's breathing. After a while, Ron whispered, "Couldn't you see what the thief was holding?"**

"**No . . . it must've been something small."**

"**Sophia?"**

**The wooden slats of Ron's bunk creaked as he re-positioned himself in bed.**

"**Sophia, you don't reckon You-Know-Who's after something else to turn into a Horcrux?"**

"**I don't know," said Sophia slowly. "Maybe. But wouldn't it be dangerous for him to make another one? Didn't Hermione say he had pushed his soul to the limit already?"**

"That's probably true, but that didn't seem to stop him before," Sirius said. "I mean after making two wasn't he pushing his soul to the limit."

"I would agree with you Sirius," Dumbledore said, "at least to a normal man's definition of a soul's limit. However, I would agree with Miss Granger as well, that it would be ill advise for Voldemort to attempt to make another Horcrux."

"And you don't believe that's what he was doing," Remus stated.

"No, I don't believe so," Dumbledore confirmed.

"**Yeah, but maybe he doesn't know that."**

"**Yeah . . .maybe," said Sophia.**

**She had been sure that Voldemort had been looking for a way around the problem of the twin cores, sure that Voldemort sought a solution from the old wandmaker . . . and yet he had killed him, apparently without asking him a single question about wandlore.**

**What was Voldemort trying to find? Why, with the Ministry of Magic and the Wizarding world at his feet, was he far away, intent on the pursuit of an object that Gregorovitch had once owned, and which had been stolen by the unknown thief?**

"That is a very intriguing question," Snape muttered and then groaned when he realized he just complimented Sophia.

**Sophia could still see the blond-haired youth's face; it was merry, wild; there was a Fred and ****George-ish air of triumphant trickery about him.**

"I hope my boys never resort to stealing!" Molly said sharply.

"Don't worry Mum, we don't plan to," George assured her.

"I know they wouldn't. I think I'm saying he had a troublemaker era about him." Sophia explained.

**(But Sophia would rather not think of George right now. Thinking of him would let her mind go a drift) **

George smiled at the younger girl as she laid her head on his shoulder, comforted that he was here right now next to her.

**The thief had soared from the windowsill like a bird, and Sophia had seen him before, but he could not think where. . . .**

**With Gregorovitch dead, it was the merry-faced thief who was in danger now, and it was on him that Sophia's thoughts dwelled, as Ron's snores began to rumble from the lower bunk and as she himself drifted slowly into sleep once more.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Ginny said, relieved that she was finished. "Who wants to read next?"

"I will," Percy said. Ginny handed the book to her brother without looking at him.

* * *

To the guest who keeps commenting. Why don't you come off of the guest then. It's really starting to bug me because I have explained and it has not been taken down yet so...


	15. Chapter 15: The Goblin's Revenge

**Disclaimer: I do not own. I hope my guest hater reviewer reads this and stops bugging me.**

* * *

**"****The Goblin's Revenge," **Percy read.

"Haha... Bill you should have read this chapter," Charlie said to his brother.

Bill didn't even grace his younger brother with an answer, he promptly ignored Charlie and gestured for Percy to continue.

**Early next morning, before the other two were awake, Sophia left the tent to search the woods around them for the oldest, most gnarled, and resilient-looking tree she could find.**

"Er... may I ask why?" Fred questioned.

"Yeah if you wanted to take a pi-"

"George!"

"You don't have to choose a old tree," George continued totally un-phased by his mum's reprimand.

The girl in question just rolled her eyes at him.

**There in its shadows she buried Mad-Eye Moody's eye and marked the spot by gouging a small cross in the bark with his wand.**

"Oh," George said bowing his head, feeling a little guilty about what he had just said.

"That was very thoughtful of you," Tonks said, smiling at Sophia.

**It was not much, but Sophia felt that Mad-Eye would have much preferred this to being stuck on Dolores Umbridge's door.**

"You definitely got that right," Tonks said, her expression becoming dark.

Kingsley nodded in agreement. Neither of them thought the former Auror would enjoy being a spy-eye of old toad face's door.

**Then she returned to the tent to wait for the others to wake, and discuss what they were going to do next.**

**Sophia and Hermione felt that it was best not to stay anywhere too long, and Ron agreed, with**** the sole proviso that their next move took them within reach of a bacon sandwich.**

The Weasley kids laughed at this; it was so Ron!

**However, there were others in the room that looked apprehensive, knowing the food situation was likely to be a reoccurring theme.**

**Hermione therefore removed the enchantments she had placed around the clearing, while Sophia and Ron obliterated all the marks and impressions on the ground that might show they had camped there.**

"Argh... that sounds worse than cleaning my room," Ron grumbled.

Hermione just threw him a cold look in response.

Sophia looked between the two of them and rolled her eyes in response.

**Then they Disapparated to the outskirts of a small market town.**

**Once they had pitched the tent in the shelter of a small copse of trees and surrounded it with freshly cast defensive enchantments. Sophia ventured out under the Invisibility Cloak to find sustenance. This, however, did not go as planned. She had barely entered the town when an unnatural chill, a descending mist, and a sudden darkening of the skies made her freeze where she stood.**

"Dementors... they don't know you're there do they!" Molly exclaimed.

"I don't think they do, Mum," Percy said, and then started to read to reassure her farther.

**"But you can make a brilliant Patronus!" protested Ron, when Sophia arrived back at the tent empty handed, out of breath, and mouthing the single word, dementors.**

"You ran away from the dementors!" several people said surprised, Sophia was never one to back down from a fight.

"You know, I have the same amount of knowledge as the rest of you, how am I supposed to know what I did," Sophia said annoyed by how everyone was looking at her.

**"I couldn't . . . make one." she panted, clutching the stitch in her side. "Wouldn't . . . come."**

**Their expressions of consternation and disappointment made Sophia feel ashamed.**

"Sorry," both Ron and Hermione said.

"It's okay," Sophia mumbled automatically.

**It had been a nightmarish experience, seeing the dementors gliding out of the mist in the distance and realizing, as the paralyzing cold choked her lungs and a distant screaming filled her ears, that she was not going to be able to protect herself. It had taken all Sophia's willpower to uproot herself from the spot and run, leaving the eyeless dementors to glide amongst the Muggles who might not be able to see them, but would assuredly feel the despair they cast wherever they went.**

**"So we still haven't got any food."**

"Ron!" Molly groaned.

"How do you know it wasn't Hermione talking," Ron pouted and everyone stare at him like he had just said the most ridiculous thing ever, which he did.

"Maybe because you're the one that never stops eating," Ginny pointed out with a sarcastic smile.

**"Shut up, Ron," snapped Hermione. "Sophia, what happened? Why do you think you couldn't make your Patronus? You managed to make **_**Prongs**_** perfectly yesterday!"**

**"I don't know."**

**She sat low in one of Perkins's old armchairs, feeling more humiliated by the moment. She was afraid that something had gone wrong inside her. Yesterday seemed a long time ago: Today she might have been thirteen years old again, the only one who collapsed on the Hogwarts Express.**

Remus smiled as he remembered that day. The first day he had seen Sophia, the girl who was like in his own, in twelve long years.

"You know Remus," Sophia said, "Its always bugged me if you were really sleeping that day on the train... or if you were listening in on our conversation."

Remus chuckled, "I was actually sleeping at first, I did wake up when Ron laughed when you described blowing up your aunt. I was shocked that out of all the compartments that you could have chosen, you picked the one that I was in."

"All the other compartments where full," Sophia shrugged.

"Well, I'm glad you did, that train ride remained me of the ones I had when going to school," Remus's smile grew as he thought of the fun he had had on the Hogwarts Express.

"Really, I didn't know your train was stopped by dementors, too," George said sarcastically.

"Well, besides that, it was like when I went to school," Remus allowed.

**Ron kicked a chair leg.**

**"What?" he snarled at Hermione. "I'm starving! All I've had since I bled half to death is a couple of toadstools!"**

**"You go and fight your way through the dementors, then," said Sophia, stung.**

**"I would, but my arm's in a sling, in case you hadn't noticed!"**

"And how would that stop you from casting a spell Weasel?" Draco questioned.

"Was Draky just defending Sophie?" Fred questioned.

"Seemed that way to me," George agreed.

Draco glared at them, he wasn't defending Potty, he was making fun of the Weasel, which apparently was difficult to do without doing the other.

**"That's convenient."**

**"And what's that supposed to —?"**

**"Of course!" cried Hermione, clapping a hand to her forehead and startling both of them into silence. "Sophia, give me the locket! Come on," she said impatiently, clicking her fingers at her when she did not react,**

"Merlin Hermione, you need to give her longer than two seconds to react," Ginny said to her friend.

"I don't want them fighting anymore," Hermione sighed; she always hated it when Ron and Sophia fought... which she knew was sort of hypocritical of her for she fought with Ron all the time.

**"****the Horcrux, Sophia, you're still wearing it!"**

**She held out her hands, and Sophia lifted the golden chain over her head. The moment it parted contact with Sophia's skin she felt free and oddly light. She had not even realized that she was clammy or that there was a heavy weight pressing on her stomach until both sensations lifted.**

"Argh," Sirius groaned. "This won't be good for morale... having that thing affecting your moods like that."

"No," Arthur agreed, "you need to find out how to destroy that quickly. The quicker the better."

**"Better?" asked Hermione.**

**"Yeah, loads better!"**

**"Sophia," she said, crouching down in front of her and using the kind of voice she associated with visiting the very sick, "you don't think you've been possessed, do you?"**

Sophia shivered; she didn't like to think about being possessed.

"No," Dumbledore answered the questioned, for the room at large was looking uncomfortable about this.

"Don't you think it's funny that just one word from Dumbledore has us all relaxing," Fred whispered loudly to George.

"Fred! George!" Molly reprimanded.

**"What? No!" she said defensively, "I remember everything we've done while I've been**** wearing it. I wouldn't know what I'd done if I'd been possessed, would I? Ginny told me there were times when she couldn't remember anything."**

Ginny frowned, not liking that her being possessed was being brought up.

**"Hmm," said Hermione, looking down at the heavy locket. "Well, maybe we ought not to wear it. We can just keep it in the tent."**

**"We are not leaving that Horcrux lying around," Sophia stated firmly. "If we lose it, if it gets stolen—"**

**"Oh, all right, all right," said Hermione, and she placed it around her own neck and tucked it out**** of sight down the front of her shirt.**

"I agree that you can't just leave it lying around, however, I don't see why you have to wear it," Snape said. "It would be just as easy to have someone responsible for looking after the locket without putting it on."

**"But we'll take turns wearing it, so nobody keeps it on too long."**

"A sound precaution," Bill said, though he agreed with what Snape had said, it would be even better if they didn't have to wear it.

**"Great," said Ron irritably, "and now we've sorted that out; can we please get some food?"**

"Someone has a one track mind," Fred said.

"Well duh, you've known me for how long and you don't know that by now," Ron smirked at him.

Fred stuck out his tongue at him before turning away with a huff.

**"Fine, but we'll go somewhere else to find it," said Hermione with half a glance at Sophia. "There's no point staying where we know dementors are swooping around."**

**In the end they settled down for the night in a far flung field belonging to a lonely farm, from which they had managed to obtain eggs and bread.**

"You stole!" Fred and George said at the same time.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... I'm very disappointed in you three," George shook his head.

"Shut up George!" Sophia said slapping his arm.

He just pouted at her and rubbed his now sore arm.

**"It's not stealing, is it?" asked Hermione in a troubled voice, as they devoured scrambled eggs on toast. "Not if I left some money under the chicken**** coop?"**

The twins, along with Sirius, laughed at Hermione explanation.

**Ron rolled his eyes and said, with his cheeks bulging, "Er-my-nee, 'oo worry 'oo much. 'Elax!"**

**And, indeed, it was much easier to relax when they were comfortably well fed. The argument about the dementors was forgotten in laughter that night, and Sophia felt cheerful, even hopeful, as she took the first of the three night watches.**

"Of course you did, you're not wearing that locket," Hermione mumbled.

"And she has a full stomach now," Ron couldn't help but point out.

**This was their first encounter with the fact that a full stomach meant good spirits, an empty one, ****bickering and gloom. Sophia was least surprised by this, because ****s****he**** had suffered periods of near starvation at the Dursleys'.**

There was a collective groan at this, as everyone cursed the Dursleys' name.

Sirius scowled at the book. How dare those Dursleys treat his poor little Prongslet this way.

**Hermione bore up reasonably well on those nights when they managed to scavenge nothing but berries or stale biscuits, her temper perhaps a little shorter than usual and her silences dour. Ron, however, had always been used to three delicious meals a day, courtesy of his mother or of the Hogwarts house-elves, and hunger made him both unreasonable and irascible.**

Ron sighed, he hated that his presence in the book was unpleasant to his friends because of his attitude.

Hermione gave him a small smile and took his head while blushing.

**Whenever lack of food coincided with Ron's turn to wear the Horcrux, he became downright unpleasant.**

"What... you mean that you actually find Ron's presence... pleasant?" Fred teased as Sophia and Hermione rolled their eyes.

"Fred, please be nicer to your brother," Molly said softly, knowing her son was only trying to diffuse the slight tension that the book was creating.

**"So where next?" was his constant refrain. He did not seem to have any ideas himself, but expected Sophia and Hermione to come up with plans while he sat and brooded over the low food supplies.**

"Lazy git," Hermione mumbled.

"I'm sorry Soph... you know, for intruding on your brooding territory," Ron said, trying to smile naturally, but he really didn't like the way this chapter was going.

**Accordingly Sophia and Hermione spent fruitless hours trying to decide where they might find the other Horcruxes, and how to destroy the one they already got, their conversations becoming increasingly repetitive as they got no new information.**

**As Dumbledore had told Sophia that he believed Voldemort had hidden the Horcruxes in places important to him, they kept reciting, in a sort of dreary litany, those locations they knew that Voldemort had lived or visited.**

"A nice start," Dumbledore said, "although I feel I should say that I have looked at a lot of places that Voldemort has been, and have yet to sense anywhere that would hide a Horcrux."

"Well that's encouraging," Sophia frowned. "How am I supposed to find something that you can't... sir?"

Dumbledore simply smiled at Sophia, "I trust that you will be able to do it somehow."

**The orphanage where he had been born and raised: Hogwarts, where he had been educated; Borgin and Burks, where he had worked after completing school; then Albania, where he had spent his years of exile: These formed the basis of their speculations.**

**"Yeah, let's go to Albania. Shouldn't take more than an afternoon to search an entire country,"**** said Ron sarcastically.**

"Well, you can use more than an afternoon," Bill said. "I mean it's not like you would have to be back in England."

Ron was getting nervous. His book self was getting bad and he had a bad feeling on what could happen.

**"There can't be anything there. He'd already made five of his Horcruxes before he went into exile, and Dumbledore was certain the snake is the sixth," said Hermione. "We know the snake's not in Albania, it's usually with Vol—"**

**"Didn't I ask you to stop say that?"**

**"Fine! The snake is usually with You-Know-Who—happy?"**

**"Not particularly."**

"I really don't know why you're still humoring him with that," Sirius groaned. "His bloody name is Voldemort."

"It's probably because he is still hurt," Remus pointed out, although he was frowning at what was going on between Ron, Hermione, and Sophia in the book.

**"I can't see him hiding anything at Borgin and Burkes." said Sophia, who had made this point many times before, but said it again simply to break the nasty silence. "Borgin and Burke were experts at Dark objects; they would've recognized a Horcrux straightaway**."

"Hm... I'm not sure about that, though I agree that it would be a bad place for the Horcrux," Dumbledore agreed, though he had checked out the shop just in case after Sophia had destroyed the diary.

**Ron yawned pointedly. Repressing a strong urge to throw something at him, Sophia plowed on,**

"Sorry Soph," Ron mumbled, he was bowing his head. He definitely didn't like this chapter.

**"I still reckon he might have hidden something at Hogwarts."**

**Hermione sighed.**

**"But Dumbledore would have found it, Sophia!"**

**Sophia repeated the argument he kept bringing out in favor of this theory.**

**"Dumbledore said in front of me that he never assumed he knew all of ****Hogwarts's**** secrets.**

"Hm..." Dumbledore said thoughtfully. He didn't think that Voldemort had time to hide a Horcrux in the castle, but Sophia had a point, he didn't know every secret that Hogwarts holds.

**I'm telling you, if there was one place Vol—"**

**"Oi!"**

**"YOU-KNOW-WHO, then!" Sophia shouted, goaded past endurance. "If there was one place that was really important to You-Know-Who, it was Hogwarts!"**

"Er... his school?" Fred, George, and Ron all said at the same time.

"You come from a good home," Sirius added, "but Hogwarts is more of a home than that bloody place that I'm force to live in will ever be."

"It's like that for children, who don't come from a good home," Sophia said pointedly ignoring everyone's gazes.

**"Oh, come on," scoffed Ron. "His school?"**

**"Yeah, his school! It was his first real home, the place that meant he was special: it meant everything to him, and even after he left—"**

**"This is You-Know-Who we're talking about, right? Not you?" inquired Ron.**

"Ronald!" Molly and Hermione both reprimanded him for saying that.

"I'm sorry," Ron bowed his head lower; he was really starting to worry about what was going to happen in this chapter. He kept on getting worse and worse the longer it went on.

**He was tugging at the chain of the Horcrux around his neck; Sophia was visited by a desire to seize it and throttle him.**

"Sophia!" Hermione groaned, she could sense a major confrontation coming between Ron and Sophia and she really didn't like it.

The twins were much more entertained by this idea, although they were slightly angry at what Ron had said to Sophia. She was after all George's future girlfriend.

**"You told us that You-Know-Who asked Dumbledore to give him a job after he left," said Hermione.**

**"That's right," said Sophia.**

**"And Dumbledore thought he only wanted to come back to try and find something, probably another founder's object, to make into another Horcrux?"**

**"****Yeah," said Sophia.**

**"****But he didn't get the job, did he?" said Hermione. "So he never got the chance to find a founder's object there and hide it in the school!"**

"Well, if you want to be logical like that, fine," Sophia huffed, playfully, trying not to think of the building tension that was happening in the book.

**"****Okay, then," said Sophia, defeated. "Forget Hogwarts."**

**Without any other leads, they traveled into London and, hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, search for the orphanage in which Voldemort had been raised. Hermione stole into a library and discovered from their records that the place had been demolished many years before. They visited its site and found a tower block of offices.**

**"****We could try digging in to foundations?" Hermione suggested halfheartedly.**

**"****He wouldn't have hidden a Horcrux here," Sophia said. She had known it all along. The orphanage had been the place Voldemort had been determined to escape; he would never have hidden a part of his soul there. Dumbledore had shown Sophia that Voldemort sought grandeur or mystique in his hiding places; this dismal gray corner of London was as far removed as you could imagine from Hogwarts of the Ministry or a building like Gringotts, the Wizarding banks, with its gilded doors and marble floors.**

"Okay, who wants to bet that those are three hiding places for the Horcruxes?" Fred asked.

"There's no way that the Horcruxes could be there," Bill said thinking mostly of Gringotts, knowing that if it was there, no one was going to get their hands on it.

"So does that mean you're willing to bet with me dear eldest brother?" Fred smirked.

"Boys, no gambling!" Molly glared at her eldest son and the twins, though George hadn't said a word yet.

"Mums right, it's not good to gamble," Bill said, as he gave Fred the sign that he would bet five galleons that these weren't the places the Horcruxes where hidden.

"Fine," Fred sighed, trying hard not to let his mum see his amusement.

**Even without any new idea, they continued to move through the countryside, pitching the tent in a different place each night for security. Every morning they made sure that they had removed all clues to their presence, then set off to find another lonely and secluded spot, traveling by Apparition to more woods, to the shadowy crevices of cliffs, to purple moors, gorse-covered mountainsides, and once a sheltered and pebbly cove. Every twelve hours or so they passed the Horcrux between them as though they were playing some perverse, slow-motion game of pass-the-parcel, where they dreaded the music stopping because the reward was twelve hours of increased fear and anxiety.**

"I don't think anyone would play pass-the-parcel, if that was the prize you got," George observed.

**Sophia's scar kept prickling. It happened most often, she noticed, when she was wearing the Horcrux.**

"I wonder why that is," Remus mused aloud what most of the group was thinking.

Dumbledore grimaced, he could guess and probably knew the exact reason why that was.

**Sometimes she could not stop herself reacting to the pain.**

**"****What? What did you see?" demanded Ron, whenever he noticed Sophia wince.**

**"****A face," muttered Sophia, every time. "The same face. The thief who stole from Gregorovitch."**

**And Ron would turn away, making no effort to hide his disappointment. Sophia knew that Ron was hoping to bear news of his family or the rest of the Order of the Phoenix,**

"Er... you do realize that if you did hear news of us it would be bad news, right?" Ginny questioned her brother. "He would have to be near us if Sophia was able to see that..."

**but after all, she, Sophia, was not a television aerial;**

"Yes Ron, she's not a television," Fred and George mock scolded their younger brother.

**she could only see what Voldemort was thinking at the time, not tune in to whatever took her fancy. Apparently Voldemort was dwelling endlessly on the unknown youth with the gleeful face, whose name and whereabouts, Sophia felt**** sure, Voldemort knew no better than she did. As Sophia's scar continued to burn and the merry, blond-haired boy swam tantalizingly in her memory, she learned to suppress any sign of pain or discomfort, for the other two showed nothing but impatience at the mention of the thief. She could not entirely blame them, when they were so desperate for a lead on the Horcruxes.**

**As the days stretched into weeks, Sophia began to suspect that Ron and Hermione were having conversations without, and about, her.**

"What mate... are they not allowed to talk to each other without you there?" Fred questioned.

Sophia rolled her eyes, "I think it's the about me part that I'm worried about."

"Ohh," Fred said much to the amusement of his twin.

**Several times they stopped talking abruptly when Sophia entered the tent, and twice she came accidentally upon them, huddled a little distance away, heads together and talking fast; both times they fell silent when they realized she was approaching them and hastened to appear busy collecting wood or water.**

"I still don't think they were talking about you..." Fred went on waggling his eyebrow.

"Shut up Fred," Ron snarled as his face turned beet red.

**Sophia could not help wondering whether they had only agreed to come on what now felt like a pointless and rambling journey because they thought she had some secret plan that they would learn in due course.**

"No," Hermione said immediately, and Ron copied a fraction of a second later.

"We're there to help you," Ron said, though his voice sounded as if he was trying to convince himself of something.

**Ron was making no effort to hide his bad mood, and Sophia was starting to fear that Hermione too was disappointed by her poor leadership. In desperation she tried to think of further Horcrux locations, but the only one that continued to occur to her was Hogwarts, and as neither of the others thought this at all likely, she stopped suggesting it. Although she was a little upset by this as Sophia was the one to say that Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater and they and the Order had ignored her. And Malfoy had led Death Eaters right into the school.**

Everyone in the room looked a little guilty at Sophia who just continued to study patterns on the floor.

Draco shifted uncomfortably at the thought that he had led Death Eaters into Hogwarts but everyone ignored him as the continued to look at Sophia.

**Autumn rolled over the countryside as they moved through it. They were now pitching the tent on mulches of fallen leaves. Natural mists joined those cast by the dementors; wind and rain added to their troubles. The fact that Hermione was getting better at identifying edible fungi could not altogether compensate for their continuing isolation, the lack of other people's company, or their total ignorance of what was going on in the war against Voldemort.**

Sophia sighed; she had trouble enough now not knowing what was going on. It had to be worse for her book self-seeing as she was in the thick of the fighting.

**"****My mother," said Ron on night, as they sat in the tent on a riverbank in Wales, "can make good food appear out of thin air."**

"No I can't Ronnie," Molly sighed, knowing Ron was like this when he was particularity hungry.

"No one can produce food out of thin air," McGonagall said, looking annoyed that anyone would suggest such a ludicrous thing.

"You might not be able to make it out of thin air, but you definitely have a way with your wand that makes everything you cook taste delicious," Arthur said smiling at his wife, who tried not to look too pleased with herself.

"Stop it Arthur," Molly said, her cheeks flushing.

"No, he's right Mrs. Weasley," Sophia said causing Molly to blush even more.

"Kiss up," Fred muttered (loudly) under his breath.

"No wonder she likes Phia the best," George added with a nudge to the Sophia's side.

Sophia was blushing now, but knew that she had said only the truth.

**He prodded moodily at the lumps of charred gray fish on his plate. Sophia glanced automatically at Ron's neck and saw, as he has expected, the golden chain of the Horcrux glinting there. She managed to fight down the impulse to swear at Ron,**

While book-Sophia had to fight down the impulse to swear, the present Fred and George didn't bother to fight down the impulse to out right laugh at their brother.

**whose attitude would, she knew, improve slightly when the time came to take off the locket.**

**"****Your mother can't produce food out of thin air," said Hermione. "no one can. Food is the first of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfigura—"**

**"****Oh, speak English, can't you?"**

"Your bad temper seems to have made you forget all the things that you learn in the book," Bill sighed, "you have to be nicer than that."

Ron didn't even hear his brother's tease because he was too worried about the way he was acting in the chapter.

**Ron said, prising a fish out from between his teeth.**

**"****It's impossible to make good food out of nothing! You can Summon it if you know where it is, you can transform it, you can increase the quantity if you've already got some—"**

**"****Well, don't bother increasing this, it's disgusting," said Ron.**

"Ronald, don't be so rude!" Molly reprimanded automatically, and again Ron didn't show any signs that he heard her. This caused Molly to worry about what her youngest son was thinking.

**"****Sophia caught the fish and I did my best with it! I notice I'm always the one who ends up sorting out the food, because I'm a girl, I suppose!"**

**"****No, it's because you're supposed to be the best at magic!" shot back Ron.**

"Cooking spells don't always go hand in hand with how power a wizard is," Molly said.

"I'm sorry, Mione," Ron mumbled, he was sure he offended her with that statement.

"It's okay, Ron," Hermione said, trying not to show how difficult it was for her to hear him say that.

**Hermione jumped up and bits of roast pike slid off her tin plate onto the floor.**

**"****You can do the cooking tomorrow, Ron, you can find the ingredients and try and charm them into something worth eating, and I'll sit here and pull faces and moan and you can see you—"**

**"****Shut up!" said Sophia, leaping to her feet and holding up both hands. "Shut up now!"**

**Hermione looked outraged.**

**"****How can you side with him, he hardly ever does the cook—"**

**"****Hermione, be quiet, I can hear someone!"**

"Crap!" Sirius said as the room got tense again.

**She was listening hard, her hands still raised, warning them not to talk. Then, over the rush and gush of the dark river beside them, she heard voices again. She looked around at the Sneakoscope. It was not moving.**

**"****You cast the ****_Muffliato_**** charm over us, right?" she whispered to Hermione.**

**"****I did everything," she whispered back, "**_**Muffliato**_**, Muggle-Repelling and Disillusionment Charms, all of it. They shouldn't be able to hear of see us, whoever they are."**

**Heavy scuffing and scraping noises, plus the sound of dislodged stones and twigs, told them that several people were clambering down the steep, wooded slope that descended to the narrow bank where they had pitched the tent. They drew their wands, waiting. The enchantments they had cast around themselves ought to be sufficient, in the near total darkness, to shield them from the notice of Muggles and normal witches and wizards. If these were Death Eaters, then perhaps their defenses were about to be tested by Dark Magic for the first time.**

Percy's voice, instead of growing tenser, became less and less emotional the longer he read. He was trying to detach himself from what he was reading, because he prided himself in keeping a cool head in tense situations. However, his fear for his brother's safety was testing his restraint, as it had so many times in the past. After all, Ron had always been the brother he related to most. Though he, Percy, was truly the black sheep of the family, he knew that Ron shared some of his characteristics. He saw how Ron seemed to really look up to all his brothers, even him, though Ron didn't seem to look at him that way anymore which hurt him more than any of his other siblings' looks.

"Er... are you ever going to start reading again," Ron asked, looking at his brother impatiently. Percy caught the panicked look in his brother's eyes. Ron was clearly worried about the situation too.

"Yeah, sorry," Percy tried to smile but knew it came off more as a grimace.

**The voices became louder but no more intelligible as the group of men reached the bank. Sophia estimated that their owners were fewer than twenty feet away, but the cascading river made it impossible to tell for sure. Hermione snatched up the beaded bag and started to rummage; after a moment she drew out three Extendible Ears**

Molly glared at the twins, she had thought she got all of those, but her sons were better at hiding things than any person or thing she knew.

Sirius, on the other hand, threw the twins a beaming smile. He thought that their inventions were brilliant.

**and threw one each to Sophia and Ron, who hastily inserted the ends of the flesh-colored strings into their ears and fed the other ends out of the tent entrance.**

**Within seconds Sophia heard a weary male voice.**

**"****There ought to be a few salmon in here, or d'you reckon it's too early in the season? Accio Salmon!"**

**There were several distinct splashes and then the slapping sounds of fish against flesh.**

"Er... obviously you didn't think of that," Charlie said, seeing to be heartened by the fact that these people, whoever they were, were trying to get food. It was likely that they were on the run as well. "That probably would have been better than the gray fish you were eating."

**Somebody grunted appreciatively. Sophia pressed the Extendable ear deeper into her own: Over the murmur of the river she could make out more voices, but they were not speaking English or any human language she had ever heard.**

"It's probably Gobbledygook," Bill said thoughtfully.

"Why would you think that?" Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"The title of the chapter," Bill shrugged, though he was trying to think of the reason why goblins would be in the forest like this.

**It was a rough and unmelodious tongue, a string of rattling, guttural noises, and there seemed to be two speakers, one with a slightly lower, slower voice than the other.**

**A fire danced into life on the other side of the canvas, large shadows passed between tent and flames. The delicious smell of baking salmon wafted tantalizingly in their direction. ****Then came the clinking of cutlery on plates, and the first man spoke again.**

**"****Here, Griphook, Gornuk."**

"Griphook?" Sophia said, she knew she heard that name before...

"He's a goblin that works at Gringotts," Bill said.

"Oh... he's the goblin that took me to my vault for the first time!" Sophia said excitedly.

Some people looked at her strangely. Why would she be happy about that?

She just ignored their looks and gestured for Percy to continue reading.

**Goblins! Hermione mouthed at Sophia, who nodded.**

**"****Thank you," said the goblins together in English.**

**"****So, you three have been on the run how long?" asked a new, mellow, and pleasant voice; it was vaguely familiar to Sophia, who pictured a round-bellied, cheerful-faced man.**

Tonks tensed at that. She couldn't be sure she was right, but she had a feeling about who that man was.

**"****Six weeks . . . Seven . . . I forget," said the tired man. "Met up with Griphook in the first couple of days and joined forces with Gornuk not long after. Nice to have a bit of company." There was a pause, while knives scraped plates and tin mugs were picked up and replaced on the ground. "What made you leave, Ted?" continued the man.**

Tonks groaned. "It is my dad."

Kingsley sighed, not sure what he could say to cheer her up so he just wrapped his arms round her. Tonks leaned into his embrace and motioned Percy to keep reading; she needed to know what was happening.

**"****Knew they were coming for me," replied mellow-voiced Ted, and Sophia suddenly knew who he was: Tonks' father. "Heard Death Eaters were in the area last week and decided I'd better run for it. Refused to register as a Muggle-born on principle,**

"Good for him," Fred said.

"It's not like registering would have done him any good anyway," George added.

**see, so I knew it was a matter of time, knew I'd have to leave in the end. My wife should be okay, she's pure-blood. And then I met Dean here, what, a few days ago, son?"**

"Did he say Dean?" Hermione gasped.

"As in Dean Thomas?" Ron added.

"It sounds like it," Sophia sighed, not liking that her friend was on the run.

"Bloody hell, this is getting really bad!" Ron groaned.

**"****Yeah," said another voice, and Sophia, Ron, and Hermione stared at each other, silent but besides themselves with excitement, sure they recognized the voice of Dean Thomas, their friend and fellow Gryffindor.**

**"****Muggle-born, eh?" asked the first man.**

**"****Not sure," said Dean. "My dad left my mum when I was a kid. I've got no proof he was a wizard, though."**

"Hm... perhaps we should check on that," Arthur muttered to himself, he didn't like the thought of having any kid on the run like he was and would do all he could to help them in case something like this happened despite their warning.

**There was silence for a while, except for the sounds of munching; then Ted spoke again.**

**"****I've got to say, Dirk, I'm surprised to run into you. Pleased, but surprised. Word was that you'd been caught."**

**"****I was," said Dirk. "I was halfway to Azkaban when I made a break for it. Stunned Dawlish, and nicked his broom. It was easier than you'd think; I don't reckon he's quite right at the moment. Might be Confunded. If so, I'd like to shake the hand of the witch or wizard who did it, probably saved my life."**

**There was another pause in which the fire crackled and the river rushed on. The Ted said, "And where do you two fit in? I, er, had the impression the goblins were for You-Know-Who, on the whole."**

**"****You had a false impression," said the higher-voiced of the goblins. "We take no sides. This is a wizards' war."**

Bill smiled at this, though he didn't find it amusing, it was just what all the goblins said to him whenever he mentioned the war.

**"****How come you're in hiding, then?"**

**"****I deemed in prudent," said the deeper-voiced goblin. "Having refused what I considered an impertinent request, I could see that my person safety was in jeopardy."**

**"****What did they ask you to do?" asked Ted.**

**"****Duties ill-befitting the dignity of my race," replied the goblin, his voice rougher and less human as he said it. "I am not a house-elf."**

**"****What about you, Griphook?"**

**"****Similar reasons," said the higher voiced goblin. "Gringotts is no longer under the sole control of my race. I recognize no Wizarding master."**

"Is he saying that Voldemort has wizards working at Gringotts?" Remus said soundly astounded, "and the goblins still haven't revolted against him."

The room frowned; this really didn't sound like the goblins.

**He added something under his breath in Gobbledygook, and Gornuk laughed.**

**"****What's the joke?" asked Dean.**

**"****He said," replied Dirk, "that there are things wizards don't recognize, either."**

**There was a short pause.**

**"****I don't get it," said Dean.**

Several people chuckled, for they were thinking the same thing.

**"****I had my small revenge before I left," said Griphook in English.**

**"****Good man—goblin, I should say," amended Ted hastily. "Didn't manage to lock a Death Eater up in one of the old high-security vaults, I suppose?"**

"That would be awesome!" Sirius smirked, thinking of his dear cousin.

**"****If I had, the sword would not have helped him break out," replied Griphook. Gornuk laughed again and even Dirk gave a dry chuckle.**

"Sword?" Ron said confused as were several of the people in the room, though Dumbledore raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.

**"****Dean and I are still missing something here," said Ted.**

**"****So is Severus Snape, though he does not know it," said Griphook,**

"Yeah! I think I really like this goblin!" Sirius cheered, smirking at Snape.

Snape just gave him a cold look, clearly stating what he thought of him.

"It's the Gryffindor sword!" Ginny said suddenly, "he's talking about the Gryffindor sword!"

Now everyone was excited to hear what was to come next, already knowing how useful the sword would be to the trio.

**and the two goblins roared with malicious laughter. Inside the tent Sophia's breathing was shallow with excitement: She and Hermione stared at each other, listening as hard as they could.**

**"****Didn't you hear about that, Ted?" asked Dirk. "About the kids who tried to steal Gryffindor's sword out of Snape's office at Hogwarts?"**

"Argh!" Molly groaned and then gave Ginny a wary looked. It didn't help at all that Ginny was looking defiantly back at her.

**An electric current seemed to course through Sophia, jangling her every nerve as she stood rooted to the spot.**

**"****Never heard a word," said Ted, "Not in the Prophet, was it?"**

**"****Hardly," chortled Dirk. "Griphook here told me, he heard about it from Bill Weasley who works for the bank. One of the kids who tried to take the sword was Bill's younger sister."**

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU DO SOMETHING THAT STUPID!" Molly yelled, everyone was glad they had the small warning for they had time to cover their ears.

"It's not stupid..." Ginny started to say, she wasn't one to back down from her mum like her brothers were... not when she believed she was right.

"NOT STUPID! GINNY, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU IF YOU GET CAUGHT!" Molly yelled. "THERE ARE DEATH EATERS AT THE SCHOOL AND YOU'RE GOING AROUND TRYING TO STEAL FROM THEM!"

"Molly," Arthur said as his wife was trying to catch her breath. "If Bill was telling this story to the goblins I'm sure nothing serious happened to Ginny."

"Oh and that makes it right!" Molly said still angry thought clearly mollified by her husband's words. "Arthur... she was risking her life for something so childish..."

"It's not childish... though I don't think the Ginny in the book realized that..." Arthur said. "Sophia does need that sword and this is probably going to help her get it."

"FINE!" Molly sighed, "But don't think we're done young lady!"

**Sophia glanced toward Hermione and Ron, both of whom were clutching the Extendable Ears as tightly as lifelines.**

**"****She and a couple of friends got into Snape's office and smashed open the glass case where he was apparently keeping the sword. Snape caught them as they were trying to smuggle it down the staircase.**

**"****Ah, God bless 'em," said Ted. "What did they think, that they'd be able to use the sword on You-Know-Who? Or on Snape himself?**

"Hm... a very intriguing thought," Sirius said with a smirk.

"SIRIUS!" Molly screamed and everyone winced this time, not covering their ears in time. He really should have known better than to say something like that when Molly was already upset.

**"****Well, whatever they thought they were going to do with it, Snape decided the sword wasn't safe where it was," said Dirk. "Couple of days later, once he'd got the say-so from You-Know-Who, I imagine, he sent it down to London to be kept in Gringotts instead."**

**The goblins started to laugh again.**

**"****I'm still not seeing the joke," said Ted.**

**"****It's a fake," rasped Griphook.**

"The sword of Gryffindor is a fake!" Charlie said.

"The one in the vault is at least," Bill said laughing.

**"****The sword of Gryffindor!"**

**"****Oh yes. It is a copy—en excellent copy, it is true—but it was Wizard-made. The original was forged centuries ago by goblins and had certain properties only goblin-made armor possesses. Wherever the genuine sword of Gryffindor is, it is not in a vault at Gringotts bank."**

**"****I see," said Ted. "And I take it you didn't bother telling the Death Eaters this?"**

**"****I saw no reason to trouble them with the information," said Griphook smugly, and now Ted and Dean joined in Gornuk and Dirk's laughter.**

As were several people in the room.

**Inside the tent, Sophia closed her eyes, willing someone to ask the question she wanted answered, and after a minute that seemed ten, Dean obliged: he was Ginny's ex-boyfriend.**

"WHAT?" all of Ginny's brothers yelled.

"HOW MANY BLOODY BOYFRIENDS DO YOU HAVE?" Ron turned on her; it was bad enough when he learned that Michael was going out with her, but Dean, too.

"You don't have to hate anyone," Ginny rolled her eyes. "And I've barely ever talk to Dean. I don't know what happened between us and honestly I don't see anything happening between us in the future..." she added.

**"****What happened to Ginny and all the others? The ones who tried to steal it?"**

**"****Oh, they were punished, and cruelly," said Griphook indifferently.**

Molly flinched at that and Arthur pulled her towards him.

**"****They're okay, though?" asked Ted quickly, "I mean, the Weasleys don't need any more of their kids injured, do they?"**

Molly whimpered at that. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's probably nothing that we don't already know about," Remus said in a soothing tone.

**"****They suffered no serious injury, as far as I am aware," said Griphook.**

**"****Lucky for them," said Ted. "With Snape's track record I suppose we should just be glad they're still alive."**

Snape glared at the book, his track record... if this idiot had any idea what his track record was in concerns of this, he wouldn't have said something that foolish.

"Well you did kill Dumbledore... of course your track record would be bad," Sirius rolled his eyes.

**"****You believe that story, then, do you, Ted?" asked Dirk." You believe Snape killed Dumbledore?**

**"****Course I do," said Ted. "You're not going to sit there and tell me you think Potter had anything to do with it?"**

**"****Hard to know what to believe these days," muttered Dirk.**

"Bloody Git!" several people hissed.

**"****I know Sophia Potter," said Dean. "And I reckon she's the real thing—the Chosen One, or whatever you want to call it."**

Sophia blushed at that; she supposed she should have seen it coming but it was still nice to know that she had Dean's vote of confidence.

"Aw... is Potter pleased he has a fan boy," Draco sneered out of habit.

Sophia rolled her eyes, Draco wouldn't understand that she was just happy that Dean believed in her.

**"****Yeah, there's a lot that would like to believe she's that, son," said Dirk, "me included. But where is she? Run for it, by the looks of things. You'd think if she knew anything we don't, or had anything special going for her, she'd be out there now fighting, rallying resistance, instead of hiding. And you know, the ****_Prophet_**** made a pretty good case against her—"**

"Argh... this isn't good for you to hear," Sirius groaned, "don't let it get to you Sophia... you are doing something."

"Er... I know that," Sophia said.

"I was actually talking to your book self," Sirius said, as if this should be obvious, and as if this wasn't an extremely odd thing for him to do. "It seems like you're feeling like you're not really accomplishing anything at the moment, but with a quest like the one you're on, it will take time. You shouldn't let what these people are saying get to you."

**"****The **_**Prophet**_**?" scoffed Ted. "You deserve to be lied to if you're still reading that muck, Dirk. You want the facts, try the **_**Quibbler**_**."**

"Excuse me!" Hermione said, she couldn't have heard that correctly.

"He told him to read the _Quibbler_," Percy repeated.

Hermione wasn't the only one staring at him opened mouth in shock.

Ginny, however, found this all rather amusing.

**There was a sudden explosion of choking and retching, plus a good deal of thumping, by the sound of it. Dirk had swallowed a fish bone. At last he sputtered, "The **_**Quibbler**_**? That lunatic rag of Xeno Lovegood's?"**

"It's not a rag," Ginny defended, she had read several issues this last term.

"Yeah, it's a very entertaining magazine to read," Sirius agreed with a chuckle, remembering the issue Kingsley had given him.

**"****It's not so lunatic these days," said Ted. "You want to give it a look, Xeno is printing all the stuff the Prophet's ignoring, not a single mention of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks in the last issue. How long they'll let him get with it, mind, I don't know. But Xeno says, front page of every issue, that any wizard who's against You-Know-Who ought to make helping Sophia Potter their number-one priority."**

"Wow," Sophia said, and several people look just as stunned.

**"****Hard to help a girl who's vanished off the face of the earth," said Dirk.**

**"****Listen, the fact that they haven't caught her yet's one hell of an achievement," said Ted. "I'd take tips from her gladly; it's what we're trying to do, stay free, isn't it?"**

"That is true... and you know that there's got to be tons of people out there assigned to try and find Sophia," Tonks said before she could think, and sighed when she saw Sirius flinch slightly at that, along with Remus and Molly.

**"****Yeah, well, you've got a point there," said Dirk heavily. "With the whole of the Ministry and all their informers looking for her, I'd have expected her to be caught by now. Mind, who's to say they haven't already caught and killed her without publicizing it?"**

"Ha, this guy isn't that intelligent," Draco said rolling his eyes. "Of course they would want to publicize it the moment they have Potter... that would put a stop to most of the resistance in one easy stroke."

**"****Ah, don't say that, Dirk," murmured Ted.**

**There was a long pause filled with more clattering of knives and forks. When they spoke again it was to discuss whether they ought to sleep on the back or retreat back up the wooded slope. Deciding the trees would give better cover; they extinguished their fire, then clambered back up the incline, their voices fading away.**

**Sophia, Ron, and Hermione reeled in the Extendable Ears. Sophia, who had found the need to remain silent increasingly difficult the longer they eavesdropped, now found himself unable to say more then, "Ginny—the sword—"**

**"****I know!" said Hermione.**

**She lunged for the tiny beaded bag, this time sinking her arm in it right up to the armpit.**

**"****Here . . . we . . . are . . ." she said between gritted teeth, and she pulled at something that was evidently in the depths of the bag. Slowly the edge of an ornate picture frame came into sight. Sophia hurried to help her. As they lifted the empty portrait of Phineas Nigellus free of Hermione's bag, she kept her wand pointing at it, ready to cast a spell at any moment.**

"I don't know if that's wise... if he knew where you were..." Arthur started to say.

"He would tell me?" Snape finished, slightly frowning at Arthur.

"And we all know that's not a bad thing anymore," George said, subtle hints of sarcasm in his voice.

Dumbledore, however, seemed to be pleased about this development.

**"****If somebody swapped the real sword for the fake while it was in Dumbledore's office," she panted, as they propped the painting against the side of the tent, "Phineas Nigellus would have seen it happen, he hangs right beside the case!"**

**"****Unless he was asleep," said Sophia, but she still held her breath as Hermione knelt down in front of the empty canvas, her wand directed at its center, cleared her throat, then said:**

**"****Er—Phineas? Phineas Nigellus?"**

**Nothing happened.**

**"****Phineas Nigellus?" said Hermione again. "Professor Black? Please could we talk to you? Please?"**

**"'****Please' always helps," said a cold, snide voice, and Phineas Nigellus slid into his portrait. At once, Hermione cried:**

**"****Obscura!"**

Sirius couldn't help but laughed at that. "Oh, he'll love that!"

"Well, I can't let him know where we are now can I," Hermione said defensively.

"I wasn't complaining," Sirius said, still laughing.

**A black blindfold appeared over Phineas Nigellus's clever, dark eyes, causing him to bump into the frame and shriek with pain.**

Sirius howled with laughter at this.

**"****What—how dare—what are you—?"**

**"****I'm very sorry, Professor Black," said Hermione, "but it's a necessary precaution!"**

**"R****emove this foul addition at once! Remove it, I say! You are ruining a great work of art! Where am I? What is going on?"**

**"****Never mind where we are," said Sophia, and Phineas Nigellus froze, abandoning his attempts to peel off the painted blindfold.**

**"****Can that possible be the voice of the elusive Ms. Potter?"**

**"****Maybe," said Sophia, knowing that this would keep Phineas Nigellus's interest.**

"Good thinking, Soph," Sirius laughed more at this, though he would have preferred if Phineas was annoyed instead of interested.

**"****We've got a couple of questions to ask you—about the sword of Gryffindor."**

**"****Ah," said Phineas Nigellus, now turning his head this way and that in an effort to catch sight of Sophia, "yes. That silly girl acted most unwisely there—"**

"Oi, don't say anything about my sister," Ron defended.

**"****Shut up about my sister," said Ron roughly,**

"Haven't change much, ah brother," Ginny said smiling at him, though her words cause several people to laugh, and she found Ron's overprotective nature highly annoying, she still loved that he cared so much.

**Phineas Nigellus raised supercilious eyebrows.**

**"****Who else is here?" he asked, turning his head from side to side. "Your tone displeases me! The girl and her friends were foolhardily in the extreme. Thieving from the headmaster."**

**"****They weren't thieving," said Sophia. "That sword isn't Snape's."**

**"****It belongs to Professor Snape's school," said Phineas Nigellus. "Exactly what claim did the Weasley girl have upon it? She deserved her punishment, as did the idiot Longbottom and the Lovegood oddity!"**

"Neville is not an idiot!" Hermione said.

**"****Neville is not an idiot and Luna is not an oddity!" said Hermione.**

"Well, you almost got it Hermione," Ginny said. "Though clearly you're going to have to learn to like Luna more than you do now."

"I don't have anything against Luna," Hermione sighed, "but you have to admit... she is odd?"

Ginny just shook her head, "I can't explain it... you just have to get to know her to understand her oddity and like her because of it."

"Which would still mean that she is odd," Hermione mumbled, but otherwise tried to take Ginny's advice.

**"****Where am I?" repeated Phineas Nigellus, starting to wrestle with the blindfold again. "Where have you brought me? Why have you removed me from the house of my forebears?"**

**"****Never mind that! How did Snape punish Ginny, Neville, and Luna?" asked Sophia urgently.**

**"****Professor Snape sent them into the Forbidden Forest, to do some work for the oaf, Hagrid."**

"Hagrid's not an oaf!" several people.

"And that's not much of a punishment if you ask me," Ginny snorted. "I mean I'll be with Hagrid and all."

"I believe that was my point in assigning your punishment there," Snape said.

**"****Hagrid's not an oaf!" said Hermione shrilly.**

**"****And Snape might've though that was a punishment," said Sophia, "but Ginny, Neville, and Luna probably had a good laugh with Hagrid. The Forbidden Forest . . . they've faced plenty worse than the Forbidden Forest, big deal!"**

Ron glared at Sophia. "It is a big deal!"

"I was probably imagining worse," Sophia sighed. "Like your mum said, Death Eaters were at Hogwarts."

"Right," Ron sighed.

**She felt relieved; she had been imagining horrors, the Cruciatus Curse at the very least.**

Sophia shivered as she remembered what happened last June.

George saw this out of the corner of his eye and rubbed soothing circles on her back.

**"****What we really wanted to know, Professor Black, is whether anyone else has, um, taken out the sword at all? Maybe it's been taken away for cleaning—or something!"**

"Cleaning," Bill scoffed.

"Er... do you not clean swords like that," Hermione asked, hating that she had made a mistake like that.

"No," Bill said simply.

**Phineas Nigellus paused again in his struggles to free his eyes and sniggered.**

**"****Muggle-born," he said, "Goblin-made armor does not require cleaning, simple girl.**

"Hey, she's not simple you git," Ron hissed at the book.

**Goblin's silver repels mundane dirt, imbibing only that which strengthens it."**

**"****Don't call Hermione simple," said Sophia.**

Ron raised an eyebrow... why hadn't he said anything? He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

**"****I grow weary of contradiction," said Phineas Nigellus. "perhaps it is time for me to return to the headmaster's office?"**

**Still blindfolded, he began groping the side of his frame, trying to feel his way out of his picture and back into the one at Hogwarts. Sophia had a sudden inspiration.**

**"****Dumbledore! Can't you bring us Dumbledore?"**

Everyone snorted at that.

"It would have been nice if I could talk to Dumbledore," Sophia mumbled, knowing the vast amounts of questions she would have for her headmaster.

**"****I beg your pardon?" asked Phineas Nigellus.**

**"****Professor Dumbledore's portrait—couldn't you bring him along, here, into yours?"**

**Phineas Nigellus turned his face in the direction of Sophia's voice.**

**"****Evidently it is not only Muggle-borns who are ignorant, Potter. The portraits of Hogwarts may commune with each other, but they cannot travel outside of the castle except to visit a painting of** **themselves elsewhere. Dumbledore cannot come here with me, and after the treatment I have received at your hands, I can assure you that I will not be making a return visit!"**

**Slightly crestfallen, Sophia watched Phineas redouble his attempts to leave his frame.**

**"****Professor Black," said Hermione, "couldn't you just tell us, please, when was the last time the sword was taken out of its case? Before Ginny took it out, I mean?"**

**Phineas snorted impatiently.**

**"****I believe that the last time I saw the sword of Gryffindor leave its case was when Professor Dumbledore used it to break open a ring."**

Dumbledore smiled at that. In fact everyone seemed to smile at that.

**Hermione whipped around to look at Sophia. Neither of them dared say more in front of Phineas Nigellus, who had at least managed to locate the exit.**

**"****Well, good night to you," he said a little waspishly, and he began to move out of sight again. Only the edge of his hat brim remained in view when Sophia gave a sudden shout.**

**"****Wait! Have you told Snape you saw this?"**

**Phineas Nigellus stuck his blindfolded head back into the picture.**

**"****Professor Snape has more important things on his mind that the many eccentricities of Albus Dumbledore. Good-bye, Potter!"**

_That might be true, but I do spend quite some time trying to understand Albus' motives,_ Snape mused to himself.

**And with that, he vanished completely, leaving behind him nothing but his murky backdrop.**

**"****Sophia!" Hermione cried.**

**"****I know!" Sophia shouted. Unable to contain herself, she punched the air; it was more than she had dared to hope for. She strode up and down the tent, feeling that she could have run a mile; she did not even feel** **hungry anymore. Hermione was squashing Phineas Nigellus's back into the beaded bag; when she had fastened the clasp she threw the bag aside and raised a shining face to Sophia.**

**"****The sword can destroy Horcruxes! Goblin-made blades imbibe only that which strengthens them—Sophia's, that sword's impregnated with basilisk venom!"**

**"****And Dumbledore didn't give it to me because he still needed it; he wanted to use it on the locket—"**

**"—****and he must have realized they wouldn't let you have it if he put it in his will—"**

**"—****so he made a copy—"**

**"—****and put a fake in the glass case—"**

**"—****and he left the real one—where?"**

"Yeah, where did you leave the real one Dumbledore?" Sirius questioned.

Dumbledore just smiled serenely at that.

**They gazed at east other Sophia felt that the answer was dangling invisibly in the air above them, tantalizingly close. Why hadn't Dumbledore told her? Or had he, in fact, told Sophia, but Sophia had not realized it at the time?"**

"No, I don't think I've told you," Dumbledore said.

"Then how am I supposed to get the sword, sir?" Sophia questioned.

"We will see soon, I'm sure," Dumbledore said simply.

**"****Think!" whispered Hermione. "Think! Where would he have left it?"**

**"****Not at Hogwarts," said Sophia, resuming her pacing.**

**"****Somewhere in Hogsmeade?" suggested Hermione.**

**"****The Shrieking Shack?" said Sophia. "Nobody ever goes in there."**

"Seriously Soph... do you really think that Dumbledore would just leave it lying around for anyone to find?" Fred rolled his eyes.

Sophia did what any other mature adult would do and she stuck out her tongue.

Fred just laughed at her.

**"****But Snape knows how to get in; wouldn't that be a bit risky?"**

**"****Dumbledore trusted Snape," Sophia reminded her.**

**"****Not enough to tell him that he had swapped the swords," said Hermione.**

Dumbledore made no reaction to this, though he felt that this was luckily untrue.

**"****Yeah, you're right!" said Sophia, and she felt even more cheered at the thought that Dumbledore had had some reservations, however faint, about Snape's trustworthiness. "So, would he have hidden the sword well away from Hogsmeade, then? What d'you reckon, Ron? Ron?"**

The Weasleys had tensed up at this point. They obviously knew Ron and had known what was going on as he had not talked for a long while. Ron was quick to anger and since he had time to brood over this; they knew he would be worse.

Ron sat motionless, praying that he wouldn't say anything he would regret. He could see the frustration building in him in this chapter and he didn't want it to come to a head now... or ever.

**Sophia looked around. For one bewildered moment she thought that Ron had left the tent, then realized that Ron was lying in the shadow of a bunk, looking stony.**

**"****Oh, remembered me, have you?" he said.**

Percy was trying to read this part quickly and efficiently but as he did he couldn't help think of his own recent fight with his father. It was odd that this would trigger that for him, as far as he could see it would be a good thing if Ron got away from Sophia and was no longer risking his life. But he couldn't fool himself any longer... he didn't believe that. No matter what he said in that letter he had sent to Ron, he knew his brother cared too much about Sophia to ever truly abandon her.

Percy sighed, and redoubled his efforts to read through this quickly, resolving himself to defending his brother when that time comes.

**"****What?"**

**Ron snorted as he stared up at the underside of the upper bunk.**

**"****You two carry on. Don't let me spoil your fun."**

**Perplexed, Sophia looked to Hermione for help, but she shook her head, apparently as nonplussed as she herself was.**

**"****What's the problem?" asked Sophia.**

**"****Problem? There's no problem," said Ron, still refusing to look at Sophia. "Not according to you, anyways."**

**There were several plunks on the canvas over their heads. It had started to rain.**

**"****Well, you've obviously got a problem," said Sophia. "Spit it out, will you?"**

**Ron swung his long legs off the bed and sat up. He looked mean, unlike himself.**

**"****All right, I'll spit it out. Don't expect me to skip up and down the tent because there's some other damn thing we've got to find. Just add it to the list of stuff you don't know."**

Sophia tried and failed to hide the slight hurt look on her face. Ron had been her best friend for some time and the fact that he was saying these things were hurting her a lot. She hoped he didn't feel this way now. But as she saw the crestfallen look on his face, she knew he was questioning why book-Ron was saying these things.

**"****I don't know?" repeated Sophia. "I don't know?"**

**Plunk, plunk, plunk. The rain was falling harder and heavier; it pattered on the leaf-strewn bank all around them and into the river chattering through the dark. Dread doused Sophia's jubilation; Ron was saying exactly what she had suspected and feared her to be thinking.**

Ron did groan at that as he brought his hands up to cover his face. He felt ashamed; ashamed of saying those things to Sophia and ashamed of making her feel that way.

**"****It's not like I'm not having the time of my life here," said Ron, "you know, with my arm mangled and nothing to eat and freezing my backside off every night. I just hoped, you know, after we'd been running round a few weeks, we'd have achieved something."**

"You have achieved something..." Sirius started to say, glaring at Ron. Although this was in the future, he was upset that Ron was hurting his Sophia. Sophia, his precious goddaughter, who could do no harm in his eyes.

Two things had stopped Sirius from continuing though. First Percy started to read over him, not letting him interrupt and then Remus put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Remus than nodded his head towards Ron and Sophia, who were both bowing their heads and Hermione who was looking terrified.

**"****Ron," Hermione said, but in such a quiet voice that Ron could pretend not to have heard it over the loud tattoo the rain was beating on the tent.**

**"****I thought you knew what you'd signed up for," said Sophia.**

**"****Yeah, I thought I did too."**

**"****So what part of it isn't living up to your expectations?" asked Sophia. Anger was coming to her defense now. "Did you think we'd be staying in five-star hotels? Finding a Horcrux every other day? Did you think you'd be back to Mummy by Christmas?"**

Ron flinched, he couldn't say what he was thinking, for he never had time to ponder that here in this room, but certainly hope it wasn't that. If he was being honest with himself, he thought that the way things were going (minus his stupid bloody bad temper) was about what was to be expected.

**"****We thought you knew what you were doing!" shouted Ron, standing up, and his words to Sophia were like scalding knives. "We thought Dumbledore had told you what to do, we thought you had a real plan!"**

Sophia flinched this time feeling inadequate.

"This is my fault Sophia, not yours," Dumbledore sighed, though he didn't know exactly how much more he could have helped the girl, not knowing how much he had told her. "But I should say that it had taken me years to try to find the Horcruxes, and I know it is no easy task."

His words didn't have the affect he hoped for. Sophia had hid her face so the room could not see her hurt face and Ron had bowed his head down, feeling more ashamed at the fact that Dumbledore couldn't find them but here he was blaming his best friend who didn't have much to go by herself and was only seventeen with barely any experience.

**"****Ron!" said Hermione, this time clearly audible over the rain thundering on the tent roof, but again, he ignored her.**

**"****Well, sorry to let you down," said Sophia, her voice quite calm even though she felt hollow, inadequate. "I've been straight with you from the start. I told you everything Dumbledore told me. And in the case you haven't noticed, we've found one Horcrux—"**

**"****Yeah, and we're about as near getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them—nowhere effing near in other words."**

**"****Take off the locket, Ron," Hermione said, her voice unusually high. "Please take it off. You wouldn't be talking like this if you hadn't been wearing it all day."**

Everyone groaned at the mention of the locket, knowing it was indeed intensifying Ron's anger.

**Ron, however, was unmoved by this, this wasn't the locket that was saying these words... it was him... his fears and resentments talking.**

**"****Yeah, he would," said Sophia, who did not want excuses made for Ron. "D'you think I haven't noticed the two of you whispering behind my back? D'you think I didn't guess you were thinking this stuff?**

**"****Sophia, we weren't—"**

**"****Don't lie!" Ron hurled at Hermione. "You said it too; you said you were disappointed, you said you'd thought she had a bit more to go on than—"**

That hurt Sophia more, knowing that she too was disappointed in her.

"I'm sure I didn't mean it like that," Hermione said in a soft voice that didn't carry.

**"****I didn't say it like that—Sophia, I didn't!" she cried.**

**The rain was pounding the tent, tears were pouring down Hermione's face, and the excitement of ****a few minutes before had vanished as if it had never been, a short-lived firework that had flared and died,**** leaving everything dark, wet, and cold. The sword of Gryffindor was hidden they knew not where, and there were three teenagers in a tent whose only achievement was not, yet, to be dead.**

**"****So why are you still here?" Sophia asked Ron.**

"NO!" several people said, knowing how serious the fight truly was.

"You can't say that to Ron," Fred said, knowing his brother would leave.

**Neither Sophia nor Ron had moved at this... they both seemed to be frozen in place.**

**"****Search me," said Ron.**

**"****Go home then," said Sophia.**

**"****Yeah, maybe I will!" shouted Ron, and he took several steps toward Sophia, who did not back away. "Didn't you hear what they said about my sister? But you don't give a rat's fart, do you, it's only the Forbidden Forest, Sophia I've-Faced-Worse Potter doesn't care what happened to her in there—well, I do, all right, giant spiders and mental stuff—"**

The Weasleys groaned, Ron would be angry at that... he was never the most calm of the Weasley bunch; this plus hunger and the locket were making his temper worse. He probably didn't mean to lash out at Sophia but nothing was helping his case.

**"****I was only saying—she was with the others, they were with Hagrid—"**

**"****Yeah, I get it, you don't care! And what about the rest of my family, 'the Weasleys don't need another kid injured,' did you hear that?"**

**"****Yeah, I—"**

**"****Not bothered what it meant, though?"**

**"****Ron!" said Hermione, forcing her way between them. "I don't think it means anything new has happened, anything we don't know about; think, Ron, Bill's already scarred, plenty of people must have seen that George has lost an ear by now, and you're supposed to be on your deathbed with spattergroit, I'm sure that's all he meant—"**

**"****Oh, you're sure, are you? Right then, well, I won't bother myself about them. It's all right for you, isn't it; with your parents safely out of the way—"**

With Sophia hiding her face nobody could see the small trickle of tears running down her face. Sirius and Remus both had an idea of what was going. Sirius picked her up and brought her over to them where she let the tears fall into Sirius' chest.

Ron looked over at his best friend, the guilt splitting through him like a knife. She was crying because of him. He knew she shouldn't be letting tears fall over him being stupid.

**"****My parents are dead!" Sophia bellowed.**

**"****And mine could be going the same way!" yelled Ron.**

This caused everyone to shiver.

**"****Then GO!" roared Sophia. "Go back to them, pretend you're got over your spattergroit and Mummy'll be able to feed you up and—"**

**Ron made a sudden movement: Sophia reacted, but before either wand was clear of its owner's pocket, Hermione had raised her own.**

**"****Protego!" she cried, and an invisible shield expanded between her and Sophia on the one side and Ron on the other; all of them were forced backward a few steps by the strength of the spell, and Sophia and Ron glared from either side of the transparent barrier as though they were seeing each other clearly for the first time. Sophia felt a corrosive hatred toward Ron: Something had broken between them.**

Those words seemed to cause both to shudder, knowing that they were being affected by them, but couldn't do anything to stop it.

**"****Leave the Horcrux," Sophia said.**

**Ron wrenched the chain from over his head and cast the locket into a nearby chair. He turned to Hermione.**

**"****What are you doing?"**

**"****What do you mean?"**

**"****Are you staying, or what?"**

Hermione looked horrified at the question, knowing without a doubt what her decision would be... and knowing how much that decision would hurt her.

Ron groaned then, he just had to go lower than he already had... he had to try to bring Hermione down with him. Still, even when he knew it was wrong, he knew the pain that would be caused by Hermione's rejection... and she was going to reject him... not that he blamed her, he was a loser that ditched his best mate at the first sign of danger.

**"****I . . ." She looked anguished. "Yes—yes, I'm staying. Ron, we said we'd go with Sophia, we said we'd help—"**

**"****I get it. You choose her side."**

**"****Ron, no—please—come back, come back!"**

**She was impeded by her own Shield Charm; by the time she had removed it he had already stormed into the night. Sophia stood quite still and silent, listening to her sobbing and calling Ron's name amongst the trees.**

Ron and Hermione winched at that.

**After a few minutes she returned, her sopping hair plastered to her face.**

**"****He's g-g-gone! Disapparated!"**

Damnit, Ron thought as bitter tears of self-loathing fell from his eyes. Why did he have to be so weak?

**She threw herself into a chair, curled up, and started to cry.**

**Sophia felt dazed. She stooped, picked up the Horcrux, and placed it around her own neck. She dragged blankets off Ron's bunk and threw them over Hermione. Then she climbed onto her own bed and stared up at the dark canvas roof, listening to the pounding of the rain.**

"Would you all leave us for a moment," Hermione said in a strained yet powerful voice.

"What?" Ginny and the twins said, they were all glaring at Ron, looks of disappointment clearly in their eyes.

"NOW!" Hermione said glaring at them in a way that had everyone truly see how powerful the young witch was.

"Come on," Remus said to the room. "This is an issue that they need to deal with on their own... they don't need us bothering them."

Sirius gently let go of Sophia and was relieved that the tears had stopped. He gave her a sweet kiss on the forehead walked out with Remus/

George made sure to glance quickly at Sophia. He wanted to make sure she felt comfortable being left with his brother. She gave him a weak smile and gestured for him to leave. He gave her a brief squeeze before leaving with his twin.

Most of the other people left without a word, their expressions varied from pity to anger as they left.

* * *

**Yep I'm continuing this. **


	16. Chapter 16: Getting Together

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

* * *

The rest of them room left the three to talk things out.

Ron was refusing to look at his two best friends, who were looking at him concernedly.

"Ron," Hermione called softly to him, "can you tell us what you're thinking?"

Ron was looking down ashamed of himself.

"I think I know why I acted that way. I mean I've always felt a little overshadowed being friends with you two. I mean it's kind of hard not to. Hermione you're the smartest witch of your age. And Sophia I mean everyone all over the world knows your name…" he trailed off awkwardly.

"Ron, you know I never wanted that," Sophia told her best mate softly.

"I know, it's just like I'm just your sidekick or something."

"You know you're more than just that," Sophia said, standing up and hugging him tightly.

"You're Ron Weasley, Youngest and Most Amazing Weasley Brother, Defeater of McGonagall's chess set in first year, you even came down to the chamber with me and convinced me to go, you're the one who helped convinced me to do the DA and stand up to the toad, You don't know how amazing you are." Sophia said to him, all without letting him go.

He smiled at her.

"I don't need to forgive you about all what was said in the book because I know you don't feel that way and it was only the necklace, so don't let that get you down mate. You were my first friend and are still one of my best mates." She finished and finally released him.

"I'm going to leave you two the alone so you discuss some things," Sophia said with a smirk before walking out of the room intent on finding George and having her own conversation with him.

* * *

"George!" Sophia exclaimed finding him in a different room, alone, which slightly surprised her.

George was usually never without Fred.

"What can I do for you Phia," he said, looking at her with a smile on his face.

"I was wondering if we could talk about us, you know since we're together in the book and you must know I like you by now but if you don't that's fine too and-" Sophia started to ramble on.

George laughed and interrupted her. "I know you like me and I sure as hell like you, Phia. You're extraordinary."

Sophia gave a shy smile, "So are we like a thing?" she questioned. She had never been good with relationships. She had kissed Neville briefly once after he had taken her to the Yule Ball and had snogged Cedric Diggory once but other than that, her knowledge on relationships was limited.

George smiled, "Yea Phia, we're a thing."

She smiled and leaned over to give him a brief kiss on the lips.

They pulled away and George stood up taking her hand, "Come on, let's get back to the others."

They walked back to others, smiling and holding hands, and everybody could tell what had happened between them.

* * *

"Ron... um... how did we end up here," Hermione said. Sophia had left a little while ago and the next thing she knew she was now on the couch lying on Ron's chest.

"I'm not entirely sure," Ron started off amused, "but being here with you; I think I can get used to this."

"Erm...Mione since you know...we have this thing going on now," Hermione moved slightly so she could look at him in the eyes. She noticed than that he had turned a brilliant shade of red as he said to say, "I mean... are you my girlfriend now...?"

"Well, I better be, you don't think I just go around snogging anyone do you?" Hermione said amused.

"No," Ron chuckled but this did bring up another question that he was dying to ask but at the same time he didn't want to know.

"So have you...you know," Ron started; he couldn't help himself.

"I did kiss Viktor," Hermione confessed and Ron groaned, now that he had the answer; he wished he hadn't, "But it was nothing like ours... it couldn't be, because you've always been the one."

"I've think I've always liked you Mione, I just never knew how to say it myself." Ron said smiling and Hermione smiled back. She closed her eyes and smiled as he played with her hair...


	17. Chapter 17: Godric's Hollow

Ron eyes opened and he looked around confused on where he was and how he had got there. He wasn't in his room. His eyes widened in shock as he realized it. _He had fallen asleep on the couch with Hermione!_ He had fallen asleep on the couch with Hermione... his girlfriend. She suddenly blinked her eyes open and smiled up at him in return.

"I suppose we should get up and get some breakfast," Hermione murmured and then yawned.

They both got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen; they noticed that Remus and Sirius were already there drinking coffee.

"Good morning," Sirius said, his grey eyes twinkling madly, "sleep well?"

"Argh," Ron groaned, burying his head in his hands, his ears going red.

"Don't worry Ron," Remus chuckled. "I believe we were the only ones that saw you..."

"And we'll make sure not to tease you... that much," Sirius laughed.

"With a reaction like that, one would think you're ashamed of me," Hermione said biting her lip and Ron might have believe her if it weren't for the fact that her lips were turned up in a sly grin.

"I just know that my brothers are going to give me a hard time when they find out..." Ron shrugged, though he wasn't really that bothered about it.

He heard the rest of the group thundering into the room.

"Hey Ron," Fred said, punching him on the arm painfully. "That's for being an idiot."

"And mine will come at some unexpected point in time, especially for talking to my girl that way" George said.

"Your girl?" Hermione said with a huge grin looking between Sophia and George.

Sophia gave a shy smile and George laughed wrapping an arm around her waist.

"So who hasn't read yet?" Sirius asked.

"Sophia, Mr. Weasley, Malfoy and Professor Snape," Hermione answered as Snape and Draco made a face at the thought of having to read that damn book.

"I really rather not read right now," Sophia said, knowing how she was going to feel during this chapter and knew her book-self would be feel the same way.

"Well, it seems like I'm the only one that wants to read at this moment" Arthur said, picking up the book and then read, "**Godric's Hollow."**

Hearing this title, Remus grabbed Sirius' hand and George gathered Sophia up in his arms.

**When Sophia woke the following day it was several seconds before she remembered what had happened. Then she hoped childishly, that it had been a dream, that Ron was still there and had never left.**

Ron was already grimacing and only two sentences of the chapter had been read. He could hear the disappointment in his dad's voice and saw some of his brothers shake their heads.

**Yet by turning her head on her pillow she could see Ron's deserted bunk. It was like a dead body in the way it seems to draw her eyes. ****Sophia jumped down from her own bed, keeping her eyes averted from Ron's. Hermione, who was already busy in the kitchen, did not wish Sophia good morning, but turned her face away quickly as she went by.**

"I'm sorry," Hermione mumbled to Sophia.

"Don't be," Sophia immediately answered back, she could understand how hurt Hermione would be with Ron's departure.

**He's gone, Sophia told herself. He's gone. She had to keep thinking it as she washed and dressed as though repetition would dull the shock of it. He's gone and he's not coming back. And that was the simple truth of it, Sophia knew, because their protective enchantments meant that it would be impossible, once they vacated this spot, for Ron to find them again.**

Although it was highly unlikely, Ron hoped that he would find his way back to them. They were family, going without them would be hard. He remembered how he felt when he abandoned Sophia in 4th year and that was only for 2 weeks. _**(AN: Was it that long? I'm not entirely sure.)**_

**She and Hermione ate breakfast in silence. Hermione's eyes were puffy and red; she looked as if she had not slept.**

Hermione sighed, knowing why she wouldn't have been able to go to sleep in the book. She would have been staying up either crying or hoping Ron would come back. Ron's hand found hers and grasped on tightly.

**They packed up their things, Hermione dawdling. Sophia knew why she wanted to spin out their time on the riverbank; several times she saw her look up eagerly, and she was sure she had deluded herself into thinking that she heard footsteps through the heavy rain, but no red-haired figure appeared between the trees. Every time Sophia imitated her, looked around (for she could not help hoping a little, herself) and saw nothing but rain-swept woods, another little parcel of fury exploded inside her.**

His siblings and Sirius turned to glare at Ron reflectively, unable to stop themselves. Didn't he know how much he was hurting his friends by leaving them like this.

**She could hear Ron saying, "We thought you knew what you were doing!", and she resumed packing with a hard knot in the pit of her stomach. ****The muddy river beside them was rising rapidly and would soon spill over onto their bank. They had lingered a good hour after they would usually have departed their campsite. Finally having entirely repacked the beaded bag three times, Hermione seemed unable to find any more reasons to delay: She and Sophia grasped hands and Disapparated, reappearing on a windswept heather-covered hillside.**

Everyone flinched at this... this was it, Ron wouldn't be able to find them. Ron slumped down in his chair. He was terrible

"It's okay Ron," Hermione whispered in his ear and squeezed his hand in support. "This won't happen now so you don't have to worry about it."

"I know," Ron said, "It's just... I know what your reactions are when I leave and I don't like that I made you guys feel this way."

**The instant they arrived, Hermione dropped Sophia's hand and walked away from her, finally sitting down on a large rock, her face on her knees, shaking with what he knew were sobs. Sophia watched her, supposing that she ought to go and comfort her, but something kept her rooted to the spot. Everything inside her felt cold and tight: Again she saw the contemptuous expression on Ron's face. Sophia strode off through the heather, walking in a large circle with the distraught Hermione at its center, casting the spell she usually performed to ensure their protection.**

"Good," Molly said in a wavering voice. She couldn't stand the three of them separating, but she was glad that Sophia and Hermione were protected. She was also wishing that this book told her how Ron was for all she could do was hope he was alright.

Arthur took one hand of the book and patted her shoulder, knowing how she was feeling, for he wanted to know about his son's condition in the book.

**They did not discuss Ron at all over the next few days. Sophia was determined never to mention his name again and Hermione seemed to know that it was no use forcing the issue,**

"I probably couldn't talk about him either," Hermione mumbled, sighing when she felt Ron flinch.

**although sometimes at night when she thought Sophia was sleeping, she would hear her crying.**

Ron tightened his grip on Hermione's hand. He was mad that he had made her cry. _How could he do that to her?_

**Meanwhile Sophia had started bringing out the Marauder's map and examining it by wandlight. She was waiting for the moment when Ron's labeled dot would reappear in the corridors of Hogwarts, proving that he had returned to the comfortable castle, protected by his status of pureblood.**

"He won't be able to go there Sophia," Hermione said softly, "They think he's at home sick."

**However, Ron did not appear on the map.** **By day, she devoted themselves to trying to determine the possible locations of Gryffindor's sword, but the more they talked about the places in which Dumbledore might have hidden it, the more desperate and far-fetched their speculation became. Cudgel her brains though she might, Sophia could not remember Dumbledore ever mentioning a place in which he might hide something.**

"Nor will you ever," Dumbledore frowned. "I would in-trust it to someone to give it to you."

"Well, it's nice to know that I'm wasting my time," Sophia frowned.

**There were moments when she did not know whether she was angrier with Ron or with Dumbledore.**

"Ron... pick Ron, he's the jack arse right now," Fred said.

"Fred! Language!" Molly reprimanded.

Fred, of course ignored his mum, which is what he generally did when she scolded him.

**We thought you knew what you were doing ...We thought Dumbledore had told you what to do ... We thought you had a real plan!**

"Sorry," Ron sighed.

"I am, too," Dumbledore sighed. "It seems like there are things that I should have taken care that you know..."

"I'm sure that you've told me everything I need to know," Sophia said. "I'm just feeling extra pessimistic at the moment."

"Because your best mate is an idiot," Ron grumbled.

"I'm not an idiot," Hermione huffed playfully and Ron rolled his eyes almost smiling at her.

This reaction, added to the fact that Hermione had been leaning her head on Ron's shoulder without even blushing had Ron's family looking at them closely. Molly in particular was keeping an eye on them.

**She could not hide it from herself: Ron had been right. Dumbledore had left her with virtually nothing.**

Molly almost squealed when George leaned over to give Sophia a comforting peck on the lips.

"Watch it Weasley," Sirius warned, "Just because Remus and I are okay with it, doesn't mean we want to see it."

"Oh leave them alone." Molly huffed. She was happy to her son and Sophia, a girl she considered another daughter, happy together.

"I think Ron was having a go at you mate," Charlie pointed out. "He didn't say anything about Dumbledore."

"But I really should have realized that it wasn't Sophia's fault," Ron sighed.

**They had discovered one Horcrux, but they had no means of destroying it: The others were as unattainable as they had ever been. Hopelessness threatened to engulf her. She was staggered now to think of her own presumption in accepting her friends' offers to accompany her on this meandering, pointless journey. She knew nothing, she had no ideas, and she was constantly, painfully on the alert for any indications that Hermione too was about to tell her that she had had enough. That she was leaving.**

"Never going to happen," Hermione said firmly, there was no doubt in her voice.

"I know," Sophia sighed, and she really did, but she could understand why her book self would think that... she had just lost another person that she thought never would have left.

**They were spending many evenings in near silence and Hermione took to bringing out Phineas Nigellus's portrait and propping it up in a chair, as though he might fill part of the gaping hole left by Ron's departure.**

"Argh, as if your leaving wasn't bad enough, you're forcing them to talk to that arrogant git," Sirius said, though his tone was teasing.

**Despite his previous assertion that he would never visit them again, Phineas Nigellus did not seem able to resist the chance to find out more about what Sophia was up to and consented to reappear, blindfolded, every few days of so. Sophia was even glad to see him, because he was company, albeit of a snide and taunting kind.**

"Ha... next thing you'll know, Sophia's going to want Snape to be there," Fred said.

"Not in a million years," Sophia made a face, completely ignoring the sneer on Snape's face.

**They relished any news about what was happening at Hogwarts, though Phineas Nigellus was not an ideal informer. He venerated Snape, the first Slytherin headmaster since he himself had controlled the school, and they had to be careful not to criticize or ask impertinent questions about Snape, or Phineas Nigellus would instantly leave his painting.**

"And I thought he couldn't get any more annoying," Sirius grumbled playfully. "Venerated Snape indeed."

**However, he did let drop certain snippets. Snape seemed to be facing a constant, low level of mutiny from a hard core of students.**

Snape groaned at this, just what he wanted... the students revolting against him not even smart enough to realize that he was actually trying to protect them.

**Ginny had been banned from going into Hogsmeade. Snape had reinstated Umbridge's old decree forbidding gatherings of three or more students or any unofficial student societies. From all of these things, Sophia deduced that Ginny, and probably Neville and Luna along with her, had been doing their best to continue Dumbledore's Army.**

"GINERVA!" Molly screamed.

"We've been through this mum, I'm not just going to sit back and let horrible things happening at Hogwarts!" Ginny said hotly. "That's not the daughter you raised!"

Molly glared at Ginny before her expression softened and she was nearly sobbing. Arthur put an arm around her squeezing her close to him.

"I just want you to be safe, is that too much to ask for?" Molly asked quietly.

"Unfortunately, yes," Ginny sighed, "there is no safe in that time."

This caused almost everyone in the room to shiver. Right now, the war was getting hard, it was hard to imagine in 2 years where Voldemort had complete control.

**This made her think of Ron again, and of Dumbledore, and of Hogwarts itself, which she missed nearly as much as George.**

"I'm glad I rate higher than your school," George grumbled playfully.

"You just can't live up to Hogwarts yet, Georgie," Sophia teased pecking him on the cheek.

**Indeed, as Phineas Nigellus talked about Snape's crackdown, Sophia experienced a split second of madness when she imagined simply going back to school to join the destabilization of Snape's regime:**

"Oh yeah, that would have been brilliant," Draco scoffed, "you would have been arrested before you even step foot into the castle."

"That's why it said I experience a split second of madness... I know it's crazy," Sophia rolled her eyes.

**Being fed and having a soft bad, and other people being in charge, seemed the most wonderful prospect in the world at this moment. But then she remembered that she was Undesirable Number One, that there was a ten-thousand Galleon price on her head, and that to walk into Hogwarts these days was just as dangerous as walking into the Ministry of Magic. Indeed, Phineas Nigellus inadvertently emphasized this fact my slipping in leading questions about Sophia and Hermione's whereabouts. Hermione shoved him back inside the beaded bag every time he did this, and Phineas Nigellus invariably refused to reappear for several days after these unceremonious good-byes.**

Sirius chuckled at how angry his great-uncle would be with that kind of good-bye.

Remus shook his head fondly. Sirius was the only one he knew to be amused by this.

**The weather grew colder and colder. They did not dare remain in any area too long, so rather than staying in the south of England, where a hard ground frost was the worst of their worries, they continued to meander up and down the country, braving a mountainside, where sleet pounded the tent; a wide, flat marsh, where the tent was flooded with chill water; and a tiny island in the middle of a Scottish loch, where snow half buried the tent in the night. They had already spotted Christmas Trees**

"It's already Christmas time... you've been on your own for at more than four months," Molly groaned. "Three of which was spent in that bloody tent..."

She did not get to finish that sentence as her husband continued reading placing an arm around her.

**twinkling from several sitting room windows before there came an evening when Sophia resolved to suggest again, what seemed to her the only unexplored avenue left to them. They had just eaten an unusually good meal: Hermione had been to a supermarket under the Invisibility Cloak (scrupulously dropping the money into an open till as she left),**

"You do know that even if you do something like that you're still stealing right," Fred informed her.

Hermione frowned, not sure if he was right or not, but hoping he wasn't... she didn't like the idea that she was stealing things.

"Leave her alone," Ron glared at his brother.

Smirking, Fred opened his mouth to say something before he frowned. He didn't really feel like teasing his brother at the moment... not when he was angry with him. Ron seemed to have understood want Fred was thinking and bowed his head.

**and Sophia thought that she might be more persuadable than usual on a stomach full of spaghetti Bolognese and tinned pears.**

"Are you sure you're not thinking of your other best mate there, Phia?" George questioned.

"Yes," Sophia rolled her eyes. "You don't seemed to know how crappy someone... anyone... will be if they haven't had a good meal in weeks."

Molly, who was starting to gather her calm, almost started crying again as she knew very well that Sophia had practice with not getting enough food... of being starved.

**She had also had the foresight to suggest that they take a few hours' break from wearing the Horcrux, which was hanging over the end of the bunk beside her.**

"Why couldn't you have the foresight to do that any time that you're in the tent together?" Snape asked but of course Sophia didn't have an answer to that. "It would have saved you a lot of trouble," he added looking pointedly at Ron.

"**Hermione?"**

"**Hmm?" She was curled up in one of the sagging armchairs with **_**The Tales of Beedle the Bard**_**.**

"You're going to have to get her attention better than that, there's no way she heard you if she's reading a book," Ron said and Hermione moved slightly so she could glare at him. "Come on, you know it's true."

"Hmph," Hermione huffed, making a face and Ron gave her one of his lop sided grins and she couldn't help but smile back at him.

**Sophia could not imagine how much more she could get out of the book, which was not, after all, very long, but evidently she was still deciphering something in it, because ****_Spellman's Syllabary _****lay open on the arm of the chair.**

**Sophia cleared her throat. She felt exactly as she had done on the occasion, several years previously, when she had asked Professor McGonagall whether she could go into Hogsmeade, despite the fact that she had not persuaded the Dursleys to sign her permission slip.**

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Hermione said, narrowing her eyes at Sophia.

"That's I'm probably about to ask you something that I know you're going to say no to," Sophia shrugged. "Given the title of the chapter, it's probably to go to my parents' house."

"So this is how you see me, as someone that will say no to you," McGonagall said frowning.

"Er..." Sophia said, thinking quickly to dig herself out of this, "not all the time... just um... when you're following the rules..."

"**Hermione, I've been thinking, and –"**

"**Sophia, could you help me with something?" Apparently Hermione had not been listening to her.**

A few people chuckled at this as Sophia pouted.

**She leaned forward and held out ****_The Tales of Beedle the Bard._**

"**Look at that symbol," she said, pointing to the top of a page. Above what Sophia assumed was the title of the story (being unable to read runes, she could not be sure), there was a picture of what looked like a triangular eye, its pupil crossed with a vertical line.**

Dumbledore mouth twisted upwards knowing that Hermione had found the clue that he wanted her to. However, as he thought of what this will lead to... sure that more of his past would be discovered, he was frowning again.

"**I never took Ancient Runes, Hermione."**

"That wouldn't have helped anyways, I don't know what that thing means but it's definitely not a rune," Bill said.

"**I know that; but it isn't a rune and it's not in the syllabary, either. All along I thought it was a picture of an eye, but I don't think it is! It's been inked in, look, somebody's drawn it there, it isn't really part of the book. Think, have you ever seen it before?"**

"**No . . . No, wait a moment." Sophia looked closer. "Isn't it the same symbol Luna's dad was wearing round his neck?"**

"**Well, that's what I thought too!"**

"**Then it's Grindelwald's mark."**

Dumbledore grimaced at the mention of this.

"I don't think that's it," Remus said thoughtfully. "I mean if it was inked into the book one would assume that Dumbledore had put it in there and is likely the reason he gave you the book. It doesn't seem likely that it would have to do with a dark wizard that had already been defeated."

Several just looked at him dumbfounded, including his own husband.

**Hermione stared at her, open mouthed.**

"_**What?**_**"**

"**Krum told me . . ." She recounted the story that Viktor Krum had told her at the wedding.**

"Wow, you really are depressed aren't you, Ron?" Fred said and Ron looked at him confused. "You didn't call dear Viktor a ruddy pumpkin head or even Vicky..."

"Oh... well," Ron said looking down at Hermione, who was holding his hand smiling slightly. "I supposed I don't really need to do that right now."

"I don't believe it!" Ginny exclaimed, which caused Ron and Hermione (and most of the people in the room) to jump. "After everything... this is when... argh... I can't believe it!"

"Er... um... I supposed you've all notice that um... yah... that," Ron said nervously, rubbing the back of his head, trying not to blush as his family looked at him with shock. "Well... that Hermione and I are... um... Together now."

"Together now, that's how you're going to describe it," Hermione said disapprovingly, but when Ron looked at her he noticed that she was smiling at him.

"Merlin Mione, now's not the time to tease me," Ron mumbled, but he was smiling back at her.

At this point there was a squeal coming for across the room and in no time at all the couple found themselves being hugged by a very excited Molly. "I didn't think you two were ever going to figure it out... I mean first George and Sophia got together and now you two but they were already in the book so I didn't have to worry about that. Thank Merlin we won't have to wait another two years for you two to take the hint!"

"Mum... get off," Ron grumbled as he looked at Hermione and was relieved to see that she was smiling, albeit she was looking rather embarrassed all the same.

"I'm sorry... I'm just so excited!" Molly beamed at them. "Finally there's something in this book that I can be happy about."

"Mum... this isn't actually in the books," Charlie pointed, but Molly didn't seem to be paying her second eldest any attention.

"So you're telling me that the way for you two to confused you're so very well hidden feeling towards each other was this git leaving," George said a little sourly for he had a long standing bet with Fred that Ron and Hermione wouldn't reveal their feeling to each other until the end of their seventh year and that was all ruin now... The way things were going in the book, he was sure he was going to win.

"I wouldn't say it was that," Hermione glared at him, as Ron groaned.

"There were other things that made me realize that Ron might like me," Hermione muttered as an afterthought, blushing.

"You mean the fact that he can't take his eyes off you..." George said.

"... tries to pick a fight with you just so you would pay attention to him..." Fred added.

"... blushes any time you accidentally touch him..." Bill added too,

"That's enough!" Ron grumbled before Charlie could add anything.

**Hermione looked astonished.**

"**_Grindelwald's _****mark?"**

**She looked from Sophia to the weird symbol and back again. "I've never heard that Grindelwald had a mark. There's no mention of it in anything I've ever read about him."**

"Then I don't think he has a mark," Ron chuckled, "if Mione can't find it."

For this he received a light slap on the chest for his troubles.

"**Well, like I say, Krum reckoned that symbol was carved on a wall at Durmstrang, and Grindelwald put it there." She fell back into the old armchair, frowning.**

"**That's very odd. If it's a symbol of Dark Magic, what's it doing in a book of children's stories?"**

"**Yeah, it is weird," said Sophia. "And you'd think Scrimgeour would have recognized it. He was Minister, he ought to have been expert on Dark stuff."**

"I think the fact that he was the head of the Auror department made him more proficient in knowing Dark stuff," Tonks said. "I mean you don't really expect Fudge to know something like that."

"Point taken," Sophia chuckled.

"**I know. . . . Perhaps he thought it was an eye, just like I did. All the other stories have little pictures over the titles." She did not speak, but continued to pore over the strange mark. Sophia tried again.**

"**Hermione?"**

"**Hmm?"**

"**I've been thinking. I – I want to go to Godric's Hollow."**

**Hermione looked up at her, but her eyes were unfocused, and Sophia was sure she was still thinking about the mysterious mark on the book.**

Ron chuckled, imagining how she would look.

"**Yes," she said. "Yes, I've been wondering that too. I really think we'll have to."**

"Well I'm going to be shocked with that response," Sophia chuckled. "I was expecting a no."

"Prongslet, aren't you supposed to be the leader of your group?" Sirius questioned. "Why do you have to ask her permission anyways?"

Sophia looked uncomfortable now.

"That's because Sophia's only the leader as long as she does what Hermione wants her to," Ginny said laughing along with her siblings.

"That's not true," Hermione said blushing slightly.

"**Did you hear me right?" she asked.**

"**Of course I did. You want to go to Godric's Hollow. I agree. I think we should. I mean, I can't think of anywhere else it could be either. It'll be dangerous, but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems it's there."**

"Er... what's there?" Charlie asked, looking confused just like everyone else in the room, including Hermione.

"I have no idea," Hermione said when she realized the question was directed at her. This cause Ron and Sophia to laugh harder and she looked at them oddly. "I don't see what's so funny."

"Of course not, but Sophia and I do," Ron said and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's just sometimes you get these ideas in your head and you act as if we know what you're thinking," Sophia explained, a small chuckle erupting for her.

"And it's funny that this time you have to be just as confused as the rest of us," Ron laughed harder.

"Whatever," Hermione said rolling her eyes.

"**Er –****_what's _****there?" asked Sophia.**

**At that, she looked just as bewildered as she felt.**

"**Well, the sword, Sophia!**

"Oh..." Sophia said. "Er... why do you think the sword would be there?"

"If you let Mr. Weasley read, I expect that you'll find out," Hermione said hotly.

Sophia lifted up her hands in an innocent gesture with a small smirk on her face

**Dumbledore must have known you'd want to go back there, and I mean, Godric's Hollow is Godric Gryffindor's birthplace –"**

"**Really? Gryffindor came from Godric's Hollow?"**

"You really are an imbecile Potter," Malfoy said as several people rolled their eyes. "You couldn't figure out that _Godric_ Gryffindor was born at Godric's Hollow."

Malfoy was on the end of a very nasty look from George for insulting her while said girl just rolled her eyes. She didn't need to glare at Malfoy for him to know what she thought of that comment.

"**Sophia, did you ever even open **_**A History of Magic**_**?"**

"**Erm," she said, smiling for what felt like the first time in months: The muscles in her face felt oddly stiff. "I might've opened it, you know, when I bought it . . . just the once. . . ."**

"I got Hedwig's name out of it," Sophia said as if that made her point.

George patted her head condescendingly, "And we're so proud that little Sophie opened up her book for the first time,"

Sophia gave him a look and the next thing George knew his head felt like it was throbbing from the smack delivered to it.

"**Well, as the village is named after him I'd have thought you might have made the connection," said Hermione. She sounded much more like her old self than she had done of late; Sophia half expected her to announce that she was off to the library.**

Ron, Sophia, Ginny, Fred and George all sniggered at this as Hermione glared at them.

"**There's a bit about the village in **_**A History of Magic**_**, wait . . ."**

**She opened the beaded bag and rummaged for a while, finally extracting her copy of their old school textbook, ****_A History of Magic _****by Bathilda Bagshot, which she thumbed through until finding the page she wanted.**

There was more sniggering from the said group at this.

"It looks like she doesn't have to go to the library... she has it in her bag," Fred said causing everyone to laugh.

"'**_Upon the signature of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1689, wizards went into hiding for good. It was natural, perhaps, that they formed their own small communities within a community. Many small villages and hamlets attracted several magical families, who banded together for mutual support and protection. The villages of Tinworsh in Cornwall, Upper Flagley in Yorkshire, and Ottery St. Catchpole on the south coast of England were notable homes to knots of Wizarding families who lived alongside tolerant and sometimes Confunded Muggles. Most celebrated of these half-magical dwelling places is, perhaps, Godric's Hollow, the West Country village where the great wizard Godric Gryffindor was born, and where Bowman Wright, Wizarding smith, forged the first Golden Snitch. The graveyard is full of the names of ancient magical families, and this accounts, no doubt, for the stories of hauntings that have dogged the little church beside it for many centuries.'_**

"**You and your parents aren't mentioned." Hermione said, closing the book, "because Professor Bagshot doesn't cover anything later than the end of the nineteenth century. But you see? Godric's Hollow, Godric Gryffindor, Gryffindor's sword; don't you think Dumbledore would have expected you to make the connection?"**

"No," Sophia said. "I really don't think that Dumbledore left it there."

"It does seem like a long shot," Hermione sighed. "I must really be desperate to do something."

"I don't like the sound of that," Molly mumbled to herself, fearing the two would do something rash.

"**Oh yeah . . ."**

**Sophia did not want to admit that she had not been thinking about the sword at all when she suggested they go to Godric's Hollow. For her, the lore of the village lay in her parents' graves, the house where she had narrowly escaped death, and in the person of Bathilda Bagshot.**

"No one can you blame you wanting to go see you parents' graves Phia," George said seriously dropping a light kiss onto her forehead.

"**Remember what Muriel said?" she asked eventually.**

"**Who?"**

"**You know," she hesitated. She did not want to say Ron's name. "George's great-aunt. At the wedding. The one who said you had skinny ankles."**

"I just love how my name is a cover for Ron's." George scoffed making several others laugh.

"**Oh," said Hermione. It was a sticky moment: Sophia knew that she had sensed Ron's name in the offing. Sophia rushed on:**

"Jeez, Hermione maybe Phia just wanted to say my name. There's no reason to sense Ron as soon as you hear my name." George huffed.

"I'm sorry, George," Hermione said with a small giggle.

"**She said Bathilda Bagshot still lived in Godric's Hollow."**

"**Bathilda Bagshot," murmured Hermione, running her index finger over Bathilda's embossed name on the front cover of **_**A History of Magic**_**. "Well, I suppose –"**

**She gasped so dramatically that Sophia's insides turned over; she drew her wand, looking around at the entrance, half expecting to see a hand forcing its way through the entrance flap, but there was nothing there.**

"I really wish you wouldn't do that," Sophia grumbled.

"But you know how she reacts when she realize something," Ron chuckled. "I don't think she can control it."

"Oh shut up," Hermione glared at them.

"**What?" she said, half angry, half relieved. "What did you do that for? I thought you'd seen a Death Eater unzipping the tent, at least –"**

"**Sophia,****_what if Bathilda's got the sword? _****What if Dumbledore entrusted it to her?"**

"Er... I don't think your inspiration this time is up to your normal standards," Ron frowned this time and Hermione glared at him more than ever.

"Well excuse me, I am under a lot of stress right now," Hermione grumbled to him.

"I know," Ron sighed looking down. Stupid him, it was his fault. He shouldn't have even opened his mouth.

**Sophia considered this possibility. Bathilda would be an extremely old woman by now, and according to Muriel, she was "gaga." Was it likely that Dumbledore would have hidden the sword of Gryffindor with her? If so, Sophia felt that Dumbledore had left a great deal to chance: Dumbledore had never revealed that he had replaced the sword with a fake, nor had he so much as mentioned a friendship with Bathilda. Now, however, was not the moment to cast doubt on Hermione's theory, not when she was so surprisingly willing to fall in with Sophia's dearest wish.**

"**Yeah, he might have done! So, are we going to go to Godric's Hollow?"**

"**Yes, but we'll have to think it through carefully, Sophia." She was sitting up now, and Sophia could tell that the prospect of having a plan again had lifted Hermione's mood as much as hers.**

But Sophia and Hermione sighed at this, realizing that they were reaching for straws here because they need to do something. Ron on the other hand cringed and prayed that neither of his friends get hurt because of this.

"**We'll need to practice Disapparating together under the Invisibility Cloak for a start, and perhaps Disillusionment Charms would be sensible too, unless you think we should go the whole hog and use Polyjuice Potion? Well I can use it and you can use your metamorphous powers or whatever. In that case we'll need to collect hair from somebody. I actually think we'd better do that, Sophia, the thicker our disguises the better. . . ."**

**Sophia let her talk, nodding and agreeing whenever there was a pause, but her mind had left the conversation. For the first time since she had discovered that the sword in Gringotts was a fake, she felt excited.**

"That's no reason to let your mind leave the conversation," Remus frowned.

"Hermione better off making the plans on her own," Sophia shrugged. "If I try to help she usually just ends up telling me off anyways."

"I do not," Hermione protested.

"Well you would if I ever tried to help," Sophia smirked and Hermione glared at her.

**She was about to go home, about to return to the place where she had had a family. It was in Godric's Hollow that, but for Voldemort, she would have grown up and spent every school holiday. She could have invited friends to her house. . . . She might even have had brothers and sisters. . . . It would have been her mother who had made her seventeenth birthday cake. The life she had lost had hardly ever seemed so real to her as at this moment, when she knew she was about to see the place where it had been taken from her.**

Sophia sighed, looking thoughtful about all of this. She had never really thought of this before as memories of her parents saddened her greatly and would usually take almost a full day of brooding to get over them.

"Would you like to go there Prongslet?" Sirius asked, watching his goddaughter closely.

"I think so," Sophia mumbled, looking down. Sirius nodded his head and vowed that he was going to take her there at some point... he himself was a little afraid of going there but knew that he had to face it some time and what time better to do that than with Sophia, his precious goddaugther who felt as much pain as him going there.

**After Hermione had gone to bed that night, Sophia quietly extracted her rucksack from Hermione's beaded bag, and from inside it, the photograph album Hagrid had given her so long ago. For the first time in months, she perused the old pictures of her parents, smiling and waving up at her from the images, which were all she had left of them now.**

George squeezed her a little big tighter as she sighed and rested her head on his broad chest.

Molly was looking like she would have loved to get up and hug Sophia but she restrained herself. George was doing a better job than she could've done.

**Sophia would gladly have set out for Godric's Hollow the following day, but Hermione had other ideas. Convinced as she was that Voldemort would expect Sophia to return to the scene of her parents' deaths, she was determined that they would set off only after they had ensured that they had the best disguises possible. It was therefore a full week later – once they had surreptitiously obtained hairs from innocent Muggles who were Christmas shopping, and had practiced Apparating and Disapparating while underneath the Invisibility Cloak together – that Hermione agreed to make the journey.**

Molly smiled at Hermione, and was once again grateful that she was there and making sure that they were as safe as it was possible when you're on the run from Voldemort and living in a tent.

**They were to Apparate to the village under cover of darkness, so it was late afternoon when Hermione finally swallowed Polyjuice Potion, Hermione into a small and rather mousy woman, and Sophia morphing into her young teenage daughter. The beaded bag containing all of their possessions (apart from the Horcrux, which Sophia was wearing around her neck) was tucked into an inside pocket of Hermione's buttoned-up coat. Sophia lowered the Invisibility Cloak over them, then they turned into the suffocating darkness once again.**

**Heart beating in her throat, Sophia opened her eyes. They were standing hand in hand in a snowy lane under a dark blue sky, in which the night's first stars were already glimmering feebly. Cottages stood on either side of the narrow road, Christmas decorations twinkling in their windows. A short way ahead of them, a glow of golden streetlights indicated the center of the village.**

"**All this snow!" Hermione whispered beneath the cloak. "Why didn't we think of snow? After all our precautions, we'll leave prints! We'll just have to get rid of them – you go in front, I'll do it –"**

"That will take forever and the Polyjuice Potion will wear off," Ron informed her.

"Argh," Hermione groaned. "You're right... well at least we are in some form of disguise and we don't look like ourselves."

**Sophia did not want to enter the village like a pantomime horse, trying to keep themselves concealed while magically covering their traces.**

"**Let's take off the Cloak," said Sophia, and when Hermione looked frightened, "Oh, come on, we don't look like us and there's no one around."**

**She stowed the Cloak under her jacket and they made their way forward unhampered, the icy air stinging their faces as they passed more cottages. Any one of them might have been the one in which James and Lily, her parents, had once lived**

"No... you would know which house was yours right away," Ron told Sophia.

"Why?" Sophia questioned.

"Because it's still looks the way it did after... well... it's still ruined," Ron explained.

"It was left as a monument for that day," Remus grimaced.

Sophia remained quiet. She knew that it was a place of monument to some as that was the exact spot that Voldemort perished but it was a great place of sadness as two innocent lives were taken that day.

**or where Bathilda lived now. Sophia gazed at the front doors, their snow-burdened roofs, and their front porches, wondering whether she remembered any of them, knowing deep inside that it was impossible, that she had been little more than a year old when she had left this place forever. She was not even sure whether she would be able to see the cottage at all; she did not know what happened when the subjects of a Fidelius Charm died. Then the little lane along which they were walking curved to the left and the heart of the village, a small square, was revealed to them.**

**Strung all around with colored lights, there was what looked like a war memorial in the middle, partly obscured by a windblown Christmas tree. There were several shops, a post office, a pub, and a little church whose stained-glass windows were glowing jewel-bright across the square.**

**The snow here had become impacted: It was hard and slippery where people had trodden on it all day. Villagers were crisscrossing in front of them, their figures briefly illuminated by streetlamps. They heard a snatch of laughter and pop music as the pub door opened and closed; then they heard a carol start up inside the little church.**

"**Sophia, I think it's Christmas Eve!" said Hermione.**

"And what a way to celebrate the holiday," Fred said.

"It doesn't really make much of a difference for us, it's not like we could have celebrated even if we had known it was Christmas Eve," Sophia said frowning.

"**Is it?"**

**She had lost track of the date; they had not seen a newspaper for weeks.**

"**I'm sure it is," said Hermione, her eyes upon the church. "They . . . they'll be in there, won't they? Your mum and dad? I can see the graveyard behind it."**

Sophia took a deep breath, and George stroked her hair to let her know that he was there for her, knowing that this would be hard for her.

**Sophia felt a thrill of something that was beyond excitement, more like fear. Now that she was so near, she wondered whether she wanted to see after all. Perhaps Hermione knew how she was feeling, because she reached for her hand and took the lead for the first time, pulling her forward.**

Sophia smiled weakly at her, there was no perhaps in her mind and she was grateful that she was there.

**Halfway across the square, however, she stopped dead.**

"**Sophia, look!"**

**She was pointing at the war memorial. As they had passed it, it had transformed. Instead of an obelisk covered in names, there was a statue of three people: a man with untidy hair and glasses, a woman with long hair and a kind, pretty face, and a baby girl sitting in her mother's arms. Snow lay upon all their heads, like fluffy white caps.**

"There's a statue of..." Sophia started, surprised.

"Yes," Molly answered her softly, she was nearly in tears.

**Sophia drew closer, gazing up into her parents' faces. She had never imagined that there would be a statue. . . . How strange it was to see herself represented in stone, a happy baby without a scar on her forehead. . . .**

"**C'mon," said Sophia, when she had looked her fill, and they turned again toward the church. As they crossed the road, she glanced over her shoulder; the statue had turned back into the war memorial.**

**The singing grew louder as they approached the church. It made Sophia's throat constrict, it reminded her so forcefully of Hogwarts, of Peeves bellowing rude versions of carols from inside suits of armor, of the Great Hall's twelve Christmas trees, of Dumbledore wearing a bonnet he had won in a cracker, of Ron in a hand-knitted sweater. . . .**

**There was a kissing gate at the entrance to the graveyard. Hermione pushed it open as quietly as possible and they edged through it. On either side of the slippery path to the church doors, the snow lay deep and untouched. They moved off through the snow, carving deep trenches behind them as they walked around the building, keeping to the shadows beneath the brilliant windows.**

**Behind the church, row upon row of snowy tombstones protruded from a blanket of pale blue that was flecked with dazzling red, gold, and green wherever the reflections from the stained glass hit the snow. Keeping her hand closed tightly on the wand in her jacket pocket, Sophia moved toward the nearest grave.**

"**Look at this, it's an Abbott, could be some long-lost relation of Hannah's!"**

"I don't know about long lost part, but it could be a relative," Hermione answered feeling like somebody need to say something as the tension was so thick you could cut it with a dull knife.

"**Keep your voice down," Hermione begged her.**

**They waded deeper and deeper into the graveyard, gouging dark tracks into the snow behind them, stooping to peer at the words on old headstones, every now and then squinting into the surrounding darkness to make absolutely sure that they were unaccompanied.**

"**Sophia, here!"**

**Hermione was two rows of tombstones away; she had to wade back to her, her heart positively banging in her chest.**

"**Is it – ?"**

"**No, but look!"**

"I think I only care about my parents' grave," Sophia mumbled and Hermione sighed.

**She pointed to the dark stone. Sophia stooped down and saw, upon the frozen, lichen-spotted granite, the words Kendra Dumbledore**

Everyone looked at Dumbledore sadly at this point, who was pitching the bridge of his nose and looking sadder than any of them had seen him before.

**and, a short way down her dates of birth and death, and her daughter Ariana. There was also a quotation:**

**_Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also._**

Several people wondered what that meant, but no one wanted to ask the already distraught Dumbledore about this.

**So Rita Skeeter and Muriel had got some of their facts right. The Dumbledore family had indeed lived here, and part of it had died here.**

**Seeing the grave was worse than hearing about it. Sophia could not help thinking that she and Dumbledore both had deep roots in this graveyard, and that Dumbledore ought to have told her so, yet he had never thought to share the connection. They could have visited the place together; for a moment Sophia imagined coming here with Dumbledore, of what a bond that would have been, of how much it would have meant to him.**

"I'm sorry Sophia, but it is not easy for me to come to this place," Dumbledore said gravely.

"I understand," Sophia sighed, knowing that it would have indeed have been a bonding experience but at the same time painful for both of them.

**But it seemed that to Dumbledore, the fact that their families lay side by side in the same graveyard had been an unimportant coincidence, irrelevant, perhaps, to the job he wanted Sophia to do.**

"I'm sorry, sir," Sophia mumbled feeling ashamed that her book self automatically assumed that just because Dumbledore didn't take her to here that it was an unimportant coincidence.

He did not say anything but she knew he did not blame her for her book-self's actions.

**Hermione was looking at Sophia, and she was glad that her face was hidden in shadow. She read the words on the tombstone again. **_**Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also**_**. She did not understand what these words meant. Surely Dumbledore had chosen them, as the eldest member of the family once his mother had died.**

"**Are you sure he never mentioned – ?" Hermione began.**

"**No," said Sophia curtly, then, "let's keep looking," and she turned away, wishing she had not seen the stone: She did not want her excited trepidation tainted with resentment.**

"**Here!" cried Hermione again a few moments later from out of the darkness. "Oh no, sorry! I thought it said Potter."**

**She was rubbing at a crumbling, mossy stone, gazing down at it, a little frown on her face.**

"**Sophia, come back a moment."**

**She did not want to be sidetracked again, and only grudgingly made her way back through the snow toward Hermione.**

"Seriously Hermione, don't you realize that I only care about one thing right now," Sophia said.

"Sorry," Hermione frowned.

"**What?"**

"**Look at this!" The grave was extremely old, weathered so that Sophia could hardly make out the name. Hermione showed her the symbol beneath it.**

"**Sophia, that's the mark in the book!"**

"What would that be doing there?" Remus asked.

"I don't know, but maybe Dumbledore did think that we would come here for something if it's there," Hermione said, looking at her headmaster that was still looking grave. For his part, he wasn't sure if that was part of the plan or not (for he did know the symbol was there of course), and he didn't want to think about it now.

**She peered at the place she indicated: The stone was so worn that it was hard to make out what was engraved there, though there did seem to be a triangular mark beneath the nearly illegible name.**

"**Yeah . . . it could be. . . ."**

**Hermione lit her wand and pointed it at the name on the headstone.**

"**It says Ig – Ignotus, I think. . . ."**

"**I'm going to keep looking for my parents, all right?" Sophia told her, a slight edge in her voice, and she set off again, leaving Hermione's crouched beside the old grave.**

"Sorry, I shouldn't be so harsh." Sophia said sighing. She wanted to see her parents but she didn't mean to be rude to Hermione.

**Every now and then she recognized a surname that, like Abbott, she had met at Hogwarts. Sometimes there were several generations of the same Wizarding family represented in the graveyard: Sophia could tell from the dates that it had either died out, or the current members had moved away from Godric's Hollow. Deeper and deeper amongst the graves she went, and every time she reached a new headstone she felt a little lurch of apprehension and anticipation.**

**The darkness and the silence seemed to become, all of a sudden, much deeper. Sophia looked around, worried, thinking of dementors, then realized that the carols had finished, that the chatter and flurry of churchgoers were fading away as they made their way back into the square. Somebody inside the church had just turned off the lights.**

**Then Hermione's voice came out of the blackness for the third time, sharp and clear from a few yards away.**

"**Sophia, they're here . . . right here."**

"It seems like you can't find anything on your own," Fred said, chuckling but no one else pay attention to him. They were all lost in their own thoughts as they thought of the people that were lost.

**And she knew by Hermione's tone that it was her mother and father this time: Sophia moved toward her, feeling as if something heavy were pressing on her chest, the same sensation she had had right after Dumbledore had died, a grief that had actually weighed on her heart and lungs.**

Remus looked at Sophia sympathetically, he had felt similarly the first few times he had gone to visit his friends grave. Sirius was looking tease as he pitched the bridge of his nose. Remus realized that it must have been harder for Sirius to hear this than it was for himself, because his husband was never able to make peace with what had happened.

**The headstone was only two rows behind Kendra and Ariana's. It was made of white marble, just like Dumbledore's tomb, and this made it easy to read, as it seemed to shine in the dark. Sophia did not need to kneel or even approach very close to it to make out the words engraved upon it.**

Snape almost glared at the book at this, his bitter thoughts thinking that having such an obvious tombstone had to be Potter's idea... always having to stand out, even in death! Lily wouldn't have wanted that. She would have wanted something simple. He tried to hold on to this anger, but of course it was impossible, it wasn't nearly strong enough for him to not think about her. He had never visited her grave... he never could make himself face that and just reading this book was bring up all those dreaded thoughts.

**JAMES POTTER LILY POTTER**

**BORN 27 MARCH 1960 BORN 30 JANUARY 1960**

**DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981 DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981**

"They were so young," Molly sighed, she was crying in Arthur's shoulder by this time. It was just so sad that... they had so much to look forward to and it was all taken from them much too soon.

**_The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death._**

**Sophia read the words slowly, as though she would have only one chance to take in their meaning, and she read the last of them aloud.**

"'**The last enemy that shall be defeated is death' . . ." A horrible thought came to her, and with a kind of panic. "Isn't that a Death Eater idea? Why is that there?"**

"It doesn't mean it like that," Sirius said, his voice quivered a little as he continued. "J-James said that it was just the way his family always looked at death... that it was something that awaits us all... sorry... I really don't know how to say he said it."

"**It doesn't mean defeating death in the way the Death Eaters mean it, Sophia," said Hermione, her voice gentle. "It means . . . you know . . . living beyond death. Living after death."**

**But they were not living, thought Sophia. They were gone. The empty words could not disguise the fact that her parents' moldering remains lay beneath snow and stone, indifferent, unknowing. And tears came before she could stop them, boiling hot then instantly freezing on her face, and what was the point in wiping them off or pretending?**

Sophia felt George do all his best to comfort her, from smoothing her hair down to rubbing gently at her back but all she could do was bury her face in his chest and wait for the chapter to be over.

**She let them fall, her lips pressed hard together, looking down at the thick snow hiding from her eyes the place where the last of her parents, Lily and James lay, bones now, surely, or dust, not knowing that their living daughter stood so near, her heart still beating, alive because of their sacrifice and close to wishing, at this moment, that she was sleeping under the snow with them.**

"They know Sophia," Sirius said, "I know that they are watching over you."

"Yeah," Sophia said in a thick voice, she could picture the forms that had come out of Voldemort's wand... how they had seemed to know what was going on... how they seemed to care about her. It made her wondered if they really were there, watching over her like Sirius had just said.

**Hermione had taken her hand again and was gripping it tightly. Sophia could not look at her, but returned the pressure, now taking deep, sharp gulps of the night air, trying to steady himself, trying to regain control. She should have brought something to give them, and she had not thought of it, and every plant in the graveyard was leafless and frozen. But Hermione raised her wand, moved it in a circle through the air, and a wreath of Christmas roses blossomed before them.**

"Thanks," Sophia gave Hermione a watery smile and she returned it just as watery.

**Sophia caught it and laid it on her parents' grave.**

"That's the end of the chapter," Arthur said, and after looking at Snape, who was still holding his head in his hands, gave the book to Draco.

Though he really didn't want to read, Draco took the book knowing he didn't have a choice in this matter.


	18. Chapter 18: Bathilda's Secret

**Disclaimer: I'm just a 15 year old girl who wants to marry Luke Hemmings. Not JK Rowling.**

* * *

**"****Bathilda's Secret,"** Draco read.

"Does that mean that she does have the sword?" Fred asked looking surprised.

"I would think not," Dumbledore frowned, he knew he would not have trusted her with the sword and he was sure he wasn't going to like where this lead. At his words, it seemed like several people got tense, not looking forward to what was going to happen either.

**"Sophia, stop."**

**"What's wrong?"**

**They had only just reached the grave of the unknown Abbott.**

**"There's someone there. Someone watching us. I can tell. There, over by the bushes."**

"Not good," Molly muttered.

"But it's okay Mrs. Weasley... we don't look like ourselves so we should be okay," Sophia informed her, but that didn't seem to make Molly, or anyone else for that matter, relax at all.

**They stood quite still, holding on to each other, gazing at the dense black boundary of the graveyard. Sophia could not see anything.**

**"Are you sure?"**

**"I saw something move. I could have sworn I did..."**

**She broke from Sophia to free her wand arm.**

**"We look like Muggles," Sophia pointed out.**

"It seems looks you like to come up with the same excuses in the future, Soph," Fred teased.

When everyone else was looking at the book, she showed him her middle finger.

**"Muggles who've just been laying flowers on your parents' grave? Sophia, I'm sure there's someone over there!"**

"And they don't seemed to work any better at cheering anyone up in either time," George added gravely, for indeed everyone looked worried after what Hermione had just point out.

**Sophia thought of A History of Magic; the graveyard was supposed to be haunted; what if -? But then she heard a rustle and saw a little eddy of dislodged snow in the bush to which Hermione had pointed. Ghosts could not move snow.**

"I'm sure it was just some kind of animal," Charlie said when he noticed how worried his mum seemed to be getting.

**"It's a cat," said Sophia, after a second or two, "or a bird. If it was a Death Eater we'd be dead by now. But let's get out of here, and we can put the Cloak back on."**

"But the snow and your footprints," Bill said point out, "that problem doesn't just go away because you want to keep yourself hidden for view."

**They glanced back repeatedly as they made their way out of the graveyard. Sophia, who did not feel as sanguine as she had pretended when reassuring Hermione,**

"Which means you didn't fool me and I'm pretty worried right now," Hermione said to Sophia.

"I had to try didn't I," Sophia shrugged.

**was glad to reach the gate and the slippery pavement. They pulled the Invisibility Cloak back over themselves. The pub was fuller than before. Many voices inside it were now singing the carol that they had heard as they approached the church. For a moment, Sophia considered suggesting they take refuge inside it,**

"You wanted to go into a pub?" Hermione looked at her incredulously and Sophia just shrugged, for she didn't have anything to say to that.

"Very Naughty Sophie," Fred tutted.

"That's my girl," Sirius barked a laugh making both Sophia and Remus shake their heads fondly.

**but before she could say anything Hermione murmured, "Let's go this way," and pulled her down the dark street leading out of the village in the opposite direction from which they had entered. Sophia could make out the point where the cottages ended and the lane turned into open country again. They walked as quickly as they dared, past more windows sparkling with multicolored lights, the outlines of Christmas trees dark through the curtains.**

**"How are we going to find Bathilda's house?" asked Hermione,**

"That's a good question," Bill said, "you really should have tried to find that out before you got to the town."

"Well it's not like we had any information with us that would tell us exactly where she lived," Hermione grumbled, feeling offended by Bill's comment.

**who was shivering a little and kept glancing back over her shoulder. "Sophia? What do you think? Sophia?"**

**She tugged at Sophia's arm, but Sophia was not paying attention. She was looking toward the dark mass that stood at the very end of this row of houses. Next moment Sophia sped up, dragging Hermione along with her, Hermione slipped a little on the ice.**

"Thanks a lot Soph," Hermione grumbled playfully.

"Sorry," Sophia chuckled.

"I'm just curious what's got you moving so quickly," Ron said.

"Sophia must have seen the cottage," Remus said gravely. "It really stands out once you can see it."

**"Sophia -"**

**"Look ... Look at it, Hermione ..."**

**"I don't ... oh!"**

**Sophia could see it; the Fidelius Charm must have died with her parents, James and Lily.**

That statement seemed to cause most of the people in the room to bow their heads and the smile Sophia had a second ago was wiped from her face.

**The hedge had grown wild in the sixteen years since Hagrid had taken Sophia from the rubble that lay scattered amongst the waist-high grass. Most of the cottage was still standing, though entirely covered in the dark ivy and snow, but the right side of the top floor had been blown apart; that, Sophia was sure, was where the curse had backfired. She and Hermione stood at the gate, gazing up at the wreck of what must once have been a cottage just like those that flanked it.**

"It was quite the quaint little place," Sirius said in a thick voice, remember the last few times that he had visited his friends.

**"I wonder why nobody's ever rebuilt it?" whispered Hermione.**

**"Maybe you can't rebuild it?" Sophia replied. "Maybe it's like the injuries from Dark Magic and you can't repair the damage?"**

"No, that's not it," Remus said finding it more and more difficult to say things.

**She slipped a hand from beneath the Cloak and grasped the snowy and thickly rusted gate, not wishing to open it, but simply so she'd some part of the house.**

"Er... why?" Fred questioned.

"Don't know," Sophia shrugged, she was looking at her hands, "I suppose I just wanted to feel some part of the cottage that must have been a happy home for me."

Molly whimpered. They all felt sympathy for the girl that was deprived of a happy home life.

**"You're not going to go inside? It looks unsafe, it might - oh, Sophia, look!"**

**Her touch on the gate seemed to have done it. A sign had risen out of the ground in front of them, up thorough the tangles of nettles and weeds, like some bizarre, fast-growing flower, and in golden letters upon the wood it said:**

_**On this spot, on this night of 31 October 1981, Lily and James Potter lost their lives. Their daughter, Sophia, remains the only witch or wizard ever to have survived the Killing Curse. This house, invisible to Muggles, has been left in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore apart their family.**_

"It seems like a stupid way to remember something like that," Draco commented under his breath and was about to continue reading when Sophia said, "Perhaps... it's definitely not something I'm looking forward to seeing."

"I thought you wanted to see this place," Ron said, turning to look at his friend.

"Yeah, but doesn't mean I'm not going to be depress as soon as I see it," Sophia grimacing. "Standing out and pointing out what horrible things that happen there," she trailed off and several people shivered at this comments.

**And all around these neatly lettered words, scribbles had been added by other witches and wizards who had come to see the place where the Girl Who Lived had escaped. Some had merely signed their names in Everlasting Ink; others had carved their initials into the wood, still others had left messages.**

"I can't believe how rude some people are!" Molly said indignantly, her voice was thick with the tears she shed thinking about how hard this must be for Sophia to deal with.

"I'm sure they were just trying to show Sophia some support," Arthur soothingly to calm her down.

**The most recent of these, shining brightly over sixteen years' worth of magical graffiti, all said similar things.**

_**Good luck, Sophia, wherever you are. If you read this, Sophia, we're all behind you! Long live Sophia Potter.**_

"See," Arthur said.

"That doesn't make this any less rude," Molly huffed.

**"They shouldn't have written on the sign!" said Hermione, indignant.**

**But Sophia beamed at her.**

**"It's brilliant. I'm glad they did. I ..."**

"Of course you are," Molly sighed and several people chuckled at that.

**She broke off. A heavily muffled figure was hobbling up the lane toward them, silhouetted by the bright lights in the distant square.**

There was no more chuckling, everyone seemed to get tense at the mention of this figure.

**Sophia thought, though it was hard to judge, that the figure was a woman. She was moving slowly, possibly frightened of slipping on the snowy ground. Her stoop, her stoutness, her shuffling gait all gave an impression of extreme age. They watched in silence as she drew nearer. Sophia was waiting to see whether she would turn into any of the cottages she was passing, but she knew instinctively that she would not. At last she came to a halt a few yards from them and simply stood there in the middle of the frozen road, facing them.**

"I don't like the sound of this at all," Molly fretted and Arthur was holding her tightly to him.

"Come on, it's a little old lady, I doubt they have anything to be afraid of," Fred rolled his eyes.

"I wouldn't say that," Ginny said darkly, "you should never judge anyone by the way they look."

"She right," Bill said. "I've seen many people and creatures pretend to be helpless... lulling you into a false sense of security before..."

"But I'm sure that's not the case right now," Fleur interrupted him and when he looked at her frowning, Fleur nodded her head towards Molly, who was now looking very pale.

"That's right, I'm sure it's just Bagshot," Bill said. "I mean she is an old lady after all."

**She did not need Hermione's pinch to her arm. There was next to no chance that this woman was a Muggle: She was standing there gazing at a house that ought to have been completely invisible to her, if she was not a witch. Even assuming that she was a witch, however, it was odd behavior to come out on a night this cold, simply to look at an old ruin. By all the rules of normal magic, meanwhile, she ought not to be able to see Hermione and her at all. Nevertheless, Sophia had the strangest feeling that she knew that they were there, and also who they were.**

"How could she know you're there if you have the Cloak on?" Molly asked desperately hoping that someone would have a good explanation for this.

"Maybe the footprints," Bill supplied doubtfully and it did little to appease his mum.

"How would it know who you were?" Sirius was the one to ask this time.

"Er... this might have been the thing in the graveyard that made the noise," Ron muttered and everyone got more tense at that.

George got up and swiftly punched Ron in the arm.

"Ow... what the hell?" Ron grumbled.

"I said I owed you a punch," George shrugged. "I figured I use it now when you're being a tactless git." He then turn to take his seat between his twin and girlfriend and he smirked when he noticed he accomplished what he set out to do... there were a few people in the room that look like they were almost about to smile... it was all he could really hope for.

**Just as she had reached this uneasy conclusion, the woman raised a gloved hand and beckoned.**

**Hermione moved closer to her under the Cloak, her arm pressed against Sophia's.**

**"How does she know?"**

**She shook her head. The woman beckoned again, more vigorously. Sophia could think of many reasons not to obey the summons, and yet her suspicions about the woman's identity were growing stronger every moment that they stood facing each other in the deserted street.**

"I don't care who you think this woman is, do not go with her!" Molly practically shouted, and prayed that Hermione had more sense than to follow this strange woman, for it looked like Sophia didn't.

**Was it possible that she had been waiting for them all these long months? That Dumbledore had told her to wait, and that Sophia would come in the end? Was it not likely that it was she who had moved in the shadows in the graveyard and had followed them to this spot? Even her ability to sense them suggested some Dumbledore-ish power that Sophia had never encountered before.**

Everyone looked at Dumbledore, hoping that he would have some kind of answer for this, but the old man didn't say anything. His expression was grave and he was worried just like everyone else about what was going on here.

**Finally Sophia spoke, causing Hermione to gasp and jump.**

**"Are you Bathilda?"**

**The muffled figure nodded and beckoned again.**

"Why doesn't she speak?" Tonks questioned, looking at the book suspiciously.

"Maybe she's not able to," Charlie answered doubtfully.

**Beneath the Cloak Sophia and Hermione looked at each other. Sophia raised her eyebrows; Hermione gave a tiny, nervous nod.**

"NO!" Molly groaned.

"This is the reason we came here... to see Bagshot," Hermione mumbled, for she was feeling it would be best if they just left the village right away.

"Yes, but you at least have to see how suspicious she is being," Bill said with a skeptical look.

**They stepped toward the woman and, at once, she turned and hobbled off back the way they had come. Leading them past several houses, she turned in at a gate. They followed her up the front path through a garden nearly as overgrown as the one they had just left. She fumbled for a moment with a key at the front door, then opened it and stepped back to let them pass.**

**She smelled bad, or perhaps it was her house; Sophia wrinkled her nose as they sidled past her and pulled off the Cloak. Now that Sophia was beside her, she realized how tiny Bathilda was; bowed down with age, she came barely level with Sophia's chest. She closed the door behind them, her knuckles blue and mottled against the peeling paint, then turned and peered into Sophia's face. Her eyes were thick with cataracts and sunken into folds of transparent skin, and her whole face was dotted with broken veins and liver spots. Sophia wondered whether she could make her out at all; even if she could, it was the young teenage Muggle whose identity she had stolen that Bathilda would see.**

"If she can't see at all... than how did she know that you were there?" Tonks asked with trepidation.

**The odor of old age, of dust, of unwashed clothes and stale food intensified as the unwound a moth-eaten black shawl, revealing a head of scant white hair through which the scalp showed clearly.**

**"Bathilda?" Sophia repeated.**

**She nodded again. Sophia became aware of the locket against her skin; the thing inside it that sometimes ticked or beat had woken; she could feel it pulsing through the cold gold. Did it know, could it sense, that the thing that would destroy it was near?**

Everyone seemed to want, to hope that to be true, but they felt too wary of the situation to believe it. Dumbledore however, was coming to a very dark conclusion, though he couldn't be sure, he felt he might know what might be happening; a thought that chilled his bones.

**Bathilda shuffled past them, pushing Hermione aside as though she had not seen her, and vanished into what seemed to be a sitting room.**

**"Sophia, I'm not sure about this," breathed Hermione.**

"Definitely not sure about this," Hermione corrected her book self as she grow more apprehensive with each passing sentence.

**"Look at the size of her, I think we could overpower her if we had to," said Sophia. "Listen, I should have told you, I knew she wasn't all there. Muriel called her 'gaga.'"**

"Not all there is different than creepy as hell," Fred pointed out, and though his tone was playful, he too looked worried about this.

**"Come!" called Bathilda from the next room.**

"So she can speak," Tonks muttered to herself.

**Hermione jumped and clutched Sophia's arm.**

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at this as his theory seemed to be less and less crazier. And his theory was not something that would be good for the girls.

**"It's okay," said Sophia reassuringly, and she led the way into the sitting room.**

**Bathilda was tottering around the place lighting candles, but it was still very dark, not to mention extremely dirty. Thick dust crunched beneath their feet, and Sophia's nose detected, underneath the dank and mildewed smell, something worse, like meat gone bad.**

"Argh!" Sirius made a face, he knew that smell for it seemed like it was always present when he was in Azkaban for people would stop eating and at times would die and be left there for days. This made it difficult for him to stay in his dog form for too long when the smell got particularly bad.

**Sophia wondered when was the last time anyone had been inside Bathilda's house to check whether she was coping. She seemed to have forgotten that she could do magic, too, for she lit the candles clumsily by hand, her trailing lace cuff in constant danger of catching fire.**

"That's odd," Remus mumbled to himself, having met the woman a few times when he came to visit the Potters, she didn't seem to be acting at all like she did then. Of course that made him nervous, but the fact that she wouldn't just light the candles magically unnerved more than anything else. She was raised as a witch after all and it wouldn't be something she would just forget.

**"Let me do that," offered Sophia, and she took the matches from her. Bathilda stood watching her as she finished lighting the candle stubs that stood on saucers around the room, perched precariously on stacks of books and on side tables crammed with cracked and moldy cups.**

**The last surface on which Sophia spotted a candle was a bow-fronted chest of drawers on which there stood a large number of photographs. When the flame danced into life, its reflection wavered on their dusty glass and silver. She saw a few tiny movements from the pictures. As Bathilda fumbled with logs for the fire, she muttered "Tergeo". The dust vanished from the photographs, and she saw at once that half a dozen were missing from the largest and most ornate frames. She wondered whether Bathilda or somebody else had removed them. Then the sight of a photograph near the back of the collection caught his eye, and she snatched it up.**

Dumbledore stiffened at the mention of this in a very different way that he had been a moment ago. He could imagine what picture Sophia would find interesting on the chest and he wasn't looking forward to hearing about that.

**It was the golden-haired, merry-faced thief, the young man who had perched on Gregorovitch's windowsill, smiling lazily up at Sophia out of the silver frame.**

"No way!" several people said.

"Of course, that's why the thief seemed familiar to you," Bill said, "it's because you saw it in that book about Du... er..." he stopped there looking warily at Dumbledore, who was now holding the bridge of his nose.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence Draco started to read again.

**And it came to Sophia instantly where she had seen the boy before: in The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, arm in arm with the teenage Dumbledore, and that must be where all the missing photographs were: in Rita's book.**

**"Mrs. - Miss - Bagshot?" she said, and her voice shook slightly. "Who is this?"**

Everyone tried their best not to look at Dumbledore, but they were dying to know who it was.

"So who was it?" Draco asked, for he didn't really care about asking the difficult questioned.

"I'm sure the book will say soon enough," Dumbledore said in a hollow tone.

"Just read Malfoy," Ginny commanded, for it looked like the pale boy was going to stall until Dumbledore explained himself fully.

**Bathilda was standing in the middle of the room watching Hermione light the fire for her.**

**"Miss Bagshot?" Sophia repeated, and she advanced with the picture in her hands as the flames burst into life in the fireplace. Bathilda looked up at her voice, and the Horcrux beat faster upon her chest.**

"I don't like the sound of that," Molly groaned, though she had no idea what it might mean.

**"Who is this person?" Sophia asked her, pushing the picture forward.**

**She peered at it solemnly, then up at Sophia.**

**"Do you know who this is?" she repeated in a much slower and louder voice than usual. "This man? Do you know him? What's he called?"**

"You are insistent, Phia, aren't you," George said as he glanced down at his girlfriend.

"I've been obsess over this man for months, of course I want to know who he is," Sophia said.

"Should I be jealous?" George asked with a smirk.

"Obviously," She deadpanned rolling her eyes.

Few didn't laugh at their interaction.

**Bathilda merely looked vague. Sophia felt an awful frustration. How had Rita Skeeter unlocked Bathilda's memories?**

"Maybe whatever she did to get Bathilda's memories is the reason why Bathilda is acting so strangely, now," Remus said in a hopeful voice that sounded more like he was trying to convince himself of this fact.

**"Who is this man?" she repeated loudly.**

**"Sophia, what are you doing?" asked Hermione.**

**"This picture. Hermione, it's the thief, the thief who stole from Gregorovitch! Please!" she said to Bathilda. "Who is this?"**

**But Bathilda only stared at her.**

Sirius was frustratingly pulling at his hair. Bathilda had never been like this and he had a feeling that whatever had happened to her would be bad for his goddaughter.

**"Why did you ask us to come with you, Mrs. - Miss - Bagshot?" asked Hermione, raising her own voice. "Was there something you wanted to tell us?"**

**Giving no sign that she had heard Hermione, Bathilda now shuffled a few steps closer to Sophia. With a little jerk of her head she looked back into the hall.**

**"You want us to leave?" she asked.**

**She repeated the gesture, this time pointing firstly at Sophia, then at herself, then at the ceiling.**

"She's gone back to gesturing again?" Tonks muttered, confused.

**"Oh, right... Hermione, I think she wants me to go upstairs with her."**

**"All right," said Hermione, "let's go."**

**But when Hermione moved, Bathilda shook her head with surprising vigor, once more pointing first at Sophia, then to herself.**

"She doesn't want Hermione to go..." Ron said. "I don't like this... you shouldn't split up."

"That's rich coming..." Ginny started, glaring at her brother.

"He's right, you shouldn't split up," Percy said, "if this is a trap the closer you are together the better."

**"She wants me to go with her, alone."**

**"Why?" asked Hermione, and her voice rang out sharp and clear in the candlelit room, the old lady shook her head a little at the loud noise.**

**"Maybe Dumbledore told her to give the sword to me, and only to me?"**

"I would not have given her the sword," Dumbledore said in a soft voice that he had to struggle to keep even.

"So you don't think that you would have wanted us to go here at all?" Sophia found herself asking as several of the people groaned at what Dumbledore had just said.

"The only reason why I would want you to go to Bathilda is because she could of told you about the symbol if you were to show it to her," Dumbledore frowned. "Though I'm not sure I would have wanted you to go there at all, she would have some ideas about what that means."

"And what does it mean?" Sophia asked.

Dumbledore closed his eyes painfully and said, "I would prefer not to speak about that now, but I am sure that it will be in the book soon enough."

**"Do you really think she knows who you are?"**

"Yes," nearly everyone said, and their tones were all grave.

**"Yes," said Sophia, looking down into the milky eyes fixed upon her own emerald green ones. "I think she does."**

**"Well, okay then, but be quick, Sophia."**

**"Lead the way," Sophia told Bathilda.**

**She seemed to understand, because she shuffled around her toward the door. Sophia glanced back at Hermione with a reassuring smile, but she was not sure if she had seen it; she stood hugging herself in the midst of the candlelit squalor, looking toward the bookcase. As Sophia walked out of the room, unseen by both Hermione and Bathilda, she slipped the silver-framed photograph of the unknown thief inside her jacket.**

_"No, no, no," _Molly was thinking, hating how Hermione had not stopped Sophia from going upstairs with Bathilda.

**The stairs were steep and narrow; Sophia was half tempted to place her hands on stout Bathilda's backside to ensure that she did not topple over backward on top of her, which seemed only too likely.**

"Even in a situation like this, your looking out for the well-being of others," Remus said with a small smile.

**Slowly, wheezing a little, she climbed to the upper landing, turned immediately right, and led her into a low-ceilinged bedroom.**

**It was pitch-black and smelled horrible: Sophia had just made out a chamber pot protruding from under the bed before Bathilda closed the door and even that was swallowed by the darkness.**

**"Lumos," said Sophia, and her wand ignited. She gave a start: Bathilda had moved close to her in those few seconds of darkness, and Sophia had not heard her approach.**

"She was laboring a second ago... how can she have moved that quickly all of a sudden?" Charlie questioned, but no one had an answer to that.

**"You are Potter?" she whispered.**

"And now she's speaking again," Tonks said shivering, it didn't make sense why she didn't speak downstairs. What was so different about now that made the old lady speak. The only thing she could come up with was that Sophia was alone now, but that didn't make sense unless... she paled at her thought, hoping like hell that she was wrong.

**"Yes, I am."**

**She nodded slowly, solemnly. Sophia felt the Horcrux beating fast, faster than her own heart; It was an unpleasant, agitating sensation.**

"What the hell does that mean?" Sirius asked, his tone was fearful. "Dumbledore said the sword wouldn't be there... why is the Horcrux reacting so much?"

At his words, Tonks paled farther and several people joined her, the sense of foreboding increasing with every word now.

**"Have you got anything for me?" Sophia asked, but Bathilda seemed distracted by her lit wand-tip.**

**"Have you got anything for me?" she repeated.**

"There's that impatience again Phia," George tried to say jokingly, but he found his arm tightly wrapping around her waist as thought to protect her from this horrible thing going on with Bathilda.

**Then Bathilda closed her eyes and several things happened at once: Sophia's scar prickled painfully; the Horcrux twitched so that the front of her sweater actually moved; the dark, fetid room dissolved momentarily. She felt a leap of joy and spoke in a high, cold voice: **_**Hold her!**_

"Damnit!"

"Crap!"

"GET OUT OF THERE!"

The yells came from all around the room so no one could be sure who said what, but that mattered little to them. They all realized to a certain extent was happening and knew the danger Sophia was in.

**Sophia swayed where she stood: The dark, foul-smelling room seemed to close around her again; she did not know what had just happened.**

"Get out of there!" several people commanded.

"Don't you realize what this means?" Snape said, who hadn't been paying attention to this chapter much as he thought of the past. He was however, aroused from his thoughts with the mention of Sophia's scar hurting. "The Dark Lord knows you're there!"

**"Have you got anything for me?" she asked for a third time, much louder.**

"No! She doesn't! Get the bloody hell out of there!" Ginny shouted anxiously.

**"Over here," Bathilda whispered, pointing to the corner. Sophia raised her wand and saw the outline of a cluttered dressing table beneath the curtained window.**

**This time she did not lead Sophia. She edged between Bathilda and the unmade bed, her wand raised. She did not want to look away from her.**

"Don't... don't take your eyes off of her," Tonks advise, and several people shivered at her warning.

**"What is it?" she asked as she reached the dressing table, which was heaped high with what looked and smelled like dirty laundry.**

**"There," Bathilda said, pointing at the shapeless mass.**

**And in the instant that she looked away, her eyes taking the tangled mess for a sword hilt, a ruby,**

"Sophia," Hermione groaned, why couldn't she get that the sword wasn't there? Why didn't she know how much danger that she was in?

**she moved weirdly: Sophia saw it out of the corner of her eye; panic made her turn and horror paralyzed her as she saw the old body collapsing and the great snake pouring from the place where her neck had been.**

The disgust was clear in Draco voice as he read this and he, just like everyone else in the room looked sick at hearing this. Though several of them have come to the conclusions that the snake was there (and indeed inside of Bathilda) none of them could stand hearing this description.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Percy said, and he was indeed looking very green.

"How is that possible... how did it get... the body moving," Bill said, looking like he too was going to be sick, and grew sicker the longer he spoke.

"I can guess, but I'm not sure that now is the best time to discuss this," Dumbledore sighed, feeling sorry of the old lady that he was once relatively close to.

**The snake struck as she raised her wand: The force of the bite to her forearm sent the wand spinning up toward the ceiling;**

"IT BIT YOU!" several people exclaimed.

"But the snake is poisonous," Molly added, squeezing her husband closer to her; the bandages around his torso was proof of that.

"She has control over the venom that she releases," Dumbledore said, "I don't believe that it would want to poison Sophia at this point."

**its light swung dizzyingly around the room and was extinguished; Then a powerful blow from the tail to her midriff knocked the breath out of her: She fell backward onto the dressing table, into the mound of filthy clothing -**

Several people flinched as Draco read this in his cold voice. He found it odd that he didn't really like reading about Sophia being tossed around... that he was actually hoping that Sophia got out to this... it was very odd indeed.

**She rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the snake's tail, which thrashed down upon the table where she had been a second earlier. Fragments of the glass surface rained upon her as she hit the floor. From below she heard Hermione call, "Sophia?"**

"You have to get up there... save her!" Ron said tensely, not really wanting Hermione anywhere near that snake, but of course he couldn't stand Sophia being attacked either. Damnit, why couldn't his book self be there? They needed him!

"I will," Hermione nodded her head determinedly.

**She could not get enough breath into her lungs to call back: Then a heavy smooth mass smashed her to the floor and she felt it slide over her, powerful, muscular -**

"It's... sitting on you," Remus groaned, there was no way that Sophia would be able to get the snake off her... not on her own at least.

**"No!" she gasped, pinned to the floor.**

**"**_**Yes**_**," whispered the voice. **_**"Yesss... hold you ... hold you ..."**_

**"Accio ... Accio Wand ..."**

**But nothing happened and she needed her hands to try to force the snake from him as it coiled itself around her torso, squeezing the air from her, pressing the Horcrux hard into her chest, a circle of ice that throbbed with life, inches from her own frantic heart, and her brain was flooding with cold, white light, all thought obliterated, her own breath drowned, distant footsteps, everything going...**

Several people raised an eyebrow at that wondering what was going on.

**A metal heart was banging outside her chest, and now she was flying, flying with triumph in her heart, without need of broomstick or thestral...**

"Now's not really the time to have a vision Sophia," Ginny groaned worriedly.

"I don't exactly get to choose when I have visions Ginny," Sophia sighed.

"Sorry... I just..." Ginny started to say.

"I know," Sophia said quietly.

**She was abruptly awake in the sour-smelling darkness; Nagini had released her. She scrambled up and saw the snake outlined against the landing light: It struck, and Hermione dived aside with a shriek; her deflected curse hit the curtained window, which shattered. Frozen air filled the room as Sophia ducked to avoid another shower of broken glass and her foot slipped on a pencil-like something - her wand -**

"Good... pick it up and get the hell out of there!" Sirius demanded. "Voldemort is on his way!"

**She bent and snatched it up, but now the room was full of the snake,**

"Er... what does that even mean?" Fred asked but Draco didn't pause to hear what he said.

**its tail thrashing; Hermione was nowhere to be seen and for a moment Sophia thought the worst,**

Ron's whole body shivered at that and Hermione squeezed his hand. She also noticed that George seemed to have a tight hold over Sophia. He acted like he was soothing her but Hermione knew George was more comforting himself by her presence.

**but then there was a loud bang and a flash of red light, and the snake flew into the air, smacking Sophia hard in the face as it went, coil after heavy coil rising up to the ceiling.**

"Sorry," Hermione said.

"I'm fine," Sophia said letting out a breath, as long as Hermione was okay it didn't matter how hurt she got.

**Sophia raised her wand, but as she did so, her scar seared more painfully, more powerfully than it had done in years.**

**"He's coming! Hermione, he's coming!"**

There were more screams, the words _'get out of there' _were repeated hundreds of times by most of the people in the room.

**As she yelled the snake fell, hissing wildly. Everything was chaos: It smashed shelves from the wall, and splintered china flew everywhere as Sophia jumped over the bed and seized the dark shape she knew to be Hermione -**

**She shrieked with pain as Sophia pulled her back across the bed:**

"What are you doing?" Ron asked, not liking the shriek of pain.

"Don't know, but I sure hope it's getting the hell out of there," Sophia said, looking pale**.**

**The snake reared again, but Sophia knew that worse than the snake was coming, was perhaps already at the gate, her head was going to split open with the pain from her scar -**

**The snake lunged as she took a running leap, dragging Hermione with her; as it struck, Hermione screamed, "Confringo!" and her spell flew around the room, exploding the wardrobe mirror and ricocheting back at them, bouncing from floor to ceiling; Sophia felt the heat of it sear the back of her hand.**

Hermione groaned again, though she didn't know how bad this was yet.

**Glass cut her cheek as, pulling Hermione with her, she leapt from bed to broken dressing table and then straight out of the smashed window into nothingness,**

"You jumped out the window!" Molly said.

"Er... it's got to be better than being in that house when the snake..." Sophia said shakily.

**her scream reverberating through the night as they twisted in midair ...**

"Oh thank Merlin... you got out of there!" several people exampled everyone relaxing, having no idea that the hardest part of this chapter for several of the people wasn't over yet.

**And then her scar burst open and she was Voldemort and he was running across the fetid bedroom, his long white hands clutching at the windowsill as he glimpsed the teenage girl and the little woman twist and vanish, and he screamed with rage, a scream that mingled with the girl's, that echoed across the dark gardens over the church bells ringing in Christmas Day...**

**And his scream was Sophia's scream, his pain was Sophia's pain... that it could happen here, where it had happened before... here, within sight of that house where he had come so close to knowing what it was to die ... to die ... the pain was so terrible ... ripped from her body ... But if she had no body, why did her head hurt so badly; if she was dead, how cold she feel so unbearably, didn't pain cease with death, didn't it go ...**

Everyone was tense again this was odd and they were now wary about what was going to happen next.

_**The night wet and windy, two children dressed as pumpkins waddling**_

"Oh Merlin," Sirius said shivering, he knew immediately what was going to happen. He leaned over and held his head in his hands. Remus knew too what was going on and put an arm on Sirius back, in support and trying to get his own comfort at the same time..

Sophia looked at them and it clicked in her head what was coming. She leaned closer into George, having his scent comfort her.

Snape however, was having a difficult time trying to keep his mask up. It had already slipped in the last chapter... it was bad enough hearing about her tombstone... but this... he didn't think he could stand it... and yet his feet were rooted to the spot as Draco continued to read.

_**across the square and the shop windows covered in paper spiders, all the tawdry Muggle trappings of a world in which they did not believe ... And he was gliding along, that sense of purpose and power and rightness in him that he always knew on these occasions ... Not anger ... that was for weaker souls than he ... but triumph, yes ... He had waited for this, he had hoped for it ...**_

By the end of this paragraph, everyone was shivering. It was chilling to hear how this madman thought.

_**"Nice costume, mister!"**_

_**He saw the small boy's smile falter as he ran near enough to see beneath the hood of the cloak, saw the fear cloud his pained face: Then the child turned and ran away ... Beneath the robe he fingered the handle of his wand ...**_

"No!" Molly moaned, fearing for the child safety... the innocent boy had done nothing and yet Voldemort would vanquish him without feeling the least bit guilty... he was a monster.

_**One simple movement and the child would never reach his mother ... but unnecessary, quite unnecessary ...**_

Several people let out a sigh of relief, but obviously that didn't last long for they knew Voldemort's next victims were going to get away.

_**And along a new and darker street he moved, and now his destination was in sight at last, the Fidelius Charm broken, though they did not know it yet ...**_

"Damn stupid rat," Sirius said weakly, there were tears in his eyes, but he wasn't really thinking about Peter's betrayal, but his own stupidity that lead to this. He felt Remus hand squeeze his shoulder, the hand was shaking, but it was there... Remus was hurting too, but he was still supporting him.

_**And he made less noise than the dead leaves slithering along the pavement as he drew level with the dark hedge, and steered over it …**_

_**They had not drawn the curtains; he saw them quite clearly in their little sitting room, the tall black-haired man in his glasses, making puffs of colored smoke erupt from his wand for the amusement of the small brown-haired girl in her purple pajamas. The child was laughing and trying to catch the smoke, to grab it in her small fist ...**_

This had all the girls in tears as they could clearly picture this scene in front of them. The boys were all close to tears too as they looked at Sophia, who wasn't looking at any of them. She had opted to bury her face in George's chest to avoid this. The scene was marred by Voldemort's presence and yet it was a memory non the least that show she was happy with her parents.

_**A door opened and the mother entered, saying words he could not hear, her long dark-red hair falling over her face. Now the father scooped up the daughter and handed her to the mother. He threw his wand down upon the sofa and stretched, yawning...**_

Remus and Sirius groaned at this. Now wasn't the time to be wandless!

_**The gate creaked a little as he pushed it open, but James Potter did not hear. His white hand pulled out the wand beneath his cloak and pointed it at the door, which burst open...**_

Sirius grimaced. James hadn't heard and if he had. He could've had a better chance of fighting.

_**He was over the threshold as James came sprinting into the hall. It was easy, too easy, he had not even picked up his wand ...**_

Everyone winched at that, the room had grown deathly chilled as they listened to the cold, distant voice of Draco.

_**"Lily, take Sophia and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"**_

_Hold him off,_ Snape scoffed in his head, knowing that would have been pointless even if Potter had his wand. However, he couldn't stop his scornful thoughts for thinking that if Potter had a wand that Lily might really of had a chance... maybe she could have...

_**Hold him off, without a wand in his hand! ... He laughed before casting the curse ...**_

_**"Avada Kedavra!"**_

Sophia, Sirius and Remus all shuddered violent as they heard this. Remus leaned down to hold his only remaining childhood friend... his husband... in a hug. Sophia was dimly aware of George stroking her hairand back but her mind was growing numb with all that was happening... she could hear her dad's voice echo in her head... Voldemort's curse...

_**The green light filled the cramped hallway, it lit the pram pushed against the wall, it made the banisters glow like lightning rods, and James Potter fell like a marionette whose strings were cut …**_

Sophia let out a small whimper at the description. Her father just a marionette puppet. He was worth more than that. A great father and husband, who had died for his daughter and wife.

_**He could hear her screaming from the upper floor, trapped, but as long as she was sensible, she, at least, had nothing to fear ...**_

Draco passed there for a second, and wasn't the only one that found this to be an odd statement, but he continued reading soon after that.

_**He climbed the steps, listening with faint amusement to her attempts to barricade herself in ... She had no wand upon her either ...**_

Snape groaned at that, causing several people to look at him and there was nothing he could do... there was no trying to hind it... no denying that he was hurt. No hiding the pain he was feeling.

No one questioned him though... it wasn't time for that now.

_**How stupid they were, and how trusting, thinking that their safety lay in friends, that weapons could be discarded even for moments...**_

Sirius almost growled. Stupid, cowardly Peter. How could they have been so easily fooled?

_**He forced the door open, cast aside the chair and boxes hastily piled against it with one lazy wave of his wand ... and there she stood, the child in her arms. At the sight of him, she dropped her daughter into the crib behind her and threw her arms wide, as if this would help, as if in shielding her from sight she hoped to be chosen instead ...**_

Tears where now falling freely down Severus face as he thought, _always had to be brave... to do the right thing..._

_**"Not Sophia, not Sophia, please not Sophia!"**_

Sophia didn't even hear Draco read this... no, she could hear her mum screaming and Voldemort answering her.

_**"Stand aside, you silly girl... stand aside, now."**_

"Why is he letting her stand aside?" Charlie muttered, unable to stop himself. No one was able to answer him... no one was willing to try to think of a reason why he would do this.

_**"Not Sophia, please no, take me, kill me instead -"**_

_**"This is my last warning -"**_

_**"Not Sophia! Please ... have mercy ... have mercy ... Not Sophia! Not Sophia! Please - I'll do anything ..."**_

_**"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"**_

_**He could have forced her away from the crib, but it seemed more prudent to finish them all ... The green light flashed around the room and she dropped like her husband.**_

_And just like that... that it would have been more prudent Lily was died! _Snape thought savagely. Why couldn't you have just left her alone? Why did she have to be the one to die? He should have done more... he should have tried to stop this monster. Why did he have to take Lily away?

There wasn't a dry eye left in the room.

Sophia couldn't stand it, sitting hearing again how her parents were killed, with all the little details this time as it was from the murderer's point of view. The carelessness of it all. How it could have been avoided. She felt her anger boil in her. She shot up so fast that George nearly fell out of the couch as she got up. She was walked across the room not knowing what the hell she was doing... where she was going... how she was feeling?

"Damnit!" she shouted, punching the wall hard as she walked by it and then continued pacing. "Why the hell did he have to go after us?" she shouted bitterly, punching the wall again as she passed it. She turned her back on the wall and by the time she turn around again Sirius was now standing there, his tear-stained face looking remorseful and guilty.

"It's my fault Sophia..." Sirius said, "I'm the reason... so you can punch me..."

Sophia just looked at her godfather, her anger vanishing almost as quickly as it had appeared. She shook her head... this wasn't Sirius fault, she would never believe that. Sirius took a step towards Sophia and pulled his goddaughter into a firm hug... clinging to her just as much as Sophia was clinging to him.

"It's my fault," Snape said a few minutes later. His voice was barely over a whisper but it had everyone looking at him. He looked directly at Sophia with sad and pain-filled eyes. "I'm the reason he came after you...

"YOU!" Sirius growled, fury and pain mixing in one, but he couldn't move because Sophia was still holding on to him.

"What do you mean?" Sophia said her body feeling numb and she was now clinging to Sirius to keep herself standing.

Snape didn't say anything and just bowed his head.

Dumbledore looked at Severus intently and when his Potion Masters nodded his head, he said, "Severus was the one that told Voldemort about the prophecy... the one I told you about..."

"I know," Sophia said harshly, feeling the angry build in her.

"He is also the reason why we knew that Voldemort chose you Sophia, and that you needed to go into hiding," Dumbledore continued.

"And you think that makes up for it," Sirius said glaring at Snape, hating him more in that moment than he ever had, finally having a real reason to dislike the greasy git.

"Snape has been working as my spy ever since Voldemort had decided to go after you..." Dumbledore started to say.

"I don't get it," Sophia said looking at Dumbledore briefly before looking back at Severus, the pain in his black eyes was hard to look at and that confused her more than anything. "You hate my dad... you've told me enough times about what an arrogant prat he was... why the hell would you want to save him... and my mum..." Snape flinched there and Sophia knew in that instant that her mum was the key to this somehow. "What? What does this have to do with my mum?"

"L-lily..." Snape choked over the words because it was the first time he was saying it out loud in a long time... maybe years... maybe even fifteen. "... Evans was my best friend..."

There were gasped heard around the room, for nearly everyone was shocked. Sophia felt her jaw drop as she stared at Snape like she's never seen the man before.

"You're the reason why the Dark Lord was going to let her go," Draco said finding the silence that had filled the room after Snape's statement very uncomfortable.

"Yes," Snape admitted shamefully.

"I think we've had enough of talking for now, maybe we should keep reading," Fred said as another long and uncomfortable silence filled the room, and Draco shrugged and started reading again.

_**The child had not cried all this time. She could stand, clutching the bars of her crib, and she looked up into the intruder's face with a kind of bright interest,**_

"Bright interest! Honestly Phia you never know how to react to things," George said, his voice shaky, but he tried to mask it with a chuckle. It was his and Fred's jobs to try and cheer everyone up.

_**perhaps thinking that it was her father who hid beneath the cloak, making more pretty lights, and her mother would pop up any moment, laughing -**_

Sophia's face crumble at Voldemort's thoughts, at her own reaction to her mum's death... not understanding then what had happen, but knowing know that she was always going to feel pain over this.

"Oh Sophia," Molly said and got out of her seat, which of course she's been wanting to do since the start of this chapter and went to pull Sophia into a hug. This was the same kind of hug she had given her after the final task last summer. It felt wrong, for she didn't want someone else's mother hugging her, she wanted her own... and yet it felt right, for she knew that Molly really had accepted her as a daughter... and that she was... she was the closest thing she will ever have to a mother.

"Just let it out Sophia," Molly said soothingly.

Draco started reading again.

_**He pointed the wand very carefully into the girl's face: He wanted to see it happen, the destruction of this one, inexplicable danger. The child began to cry: It had seen that he was not James. He did not like it crying, he had never been able to stomach the small ones whining in the orphanage –**_

"Then that might be the way to defeat Voldemort," Fred said, using the name for the first time, well at least not while reading. "Get hundreds of crying babies and drive him insane."

"He's already insane... I don't think that will work," George said and they both force themselves to laugh... a haunting sound right now, but they had to try.

**"Avada Kedavra!"**

There were hiss of indignation, and Hermione shuddered thinking of the baby... of Sophia getting fired on like that. Ron wrapped his arms around her, but she could feel that he was trembling too... it was just as hard for him to hear this. She then looked at Ginny who was looking as pale as a ghost and extended a hand to her. As soon as she made contact with her friend, Ginny leaned into her, burying her tear-stained face into Hermione's open embrace.

_**And then he broke. He was nothing, nothing but pain and terror, and he must hide himself, not here in the rubble of the ruined house, where the child was trapped screaming, but far away ... far away ...**_

_**"No," he moaned.**_

_**The snake rustled on the filthy, cluttered floor, and he had killed the girl, and yet he was the girl ...**_

_**"No..."**_

_**And now Sophia stood at the broken window of Bathilda's house, immersed in memories of her greatest loss, and at her feet the great snake slithered over broken china and glass... She looked down and saw something... something incredible...**_

Dumbledore sighed, knowing what it was and what was going to come of Voldemort discovering this.

**"No..."**

**"Sophia, it's all right, you're all right!"**

**She stooped down and picked up the smashed photograph. There he was, the unknown thief, the thief she was seeking...**

**"No... I dropped it... I dropped it ..."**

**"Sophia, it's okay, wake up, wake up!"**

**She was Sophia... Sophia, not Voldemort ... and the thing that was rustling was not a snake ...**

**She opened her eyes.**

**"Sophia," Hermione whispered. "Do you feel all - all right?"**

**"Yes," she lied.**

"I'll never b-believe that," Hermione said in a weak and shaky voice that was barely more than a whisper.

**She was in the tent, lying on one of the lower bunks beneath a heap of blankets. She could tell that it was almost dawn by the stillness and quality of the cold, flat light beyond the canvas ceiling. She was drenched in sweat; she could feel it on the sheets and blankets.**

**"We got away."**

**"Yes," said Hermione. "I had to use a Hover Charm to get you into your bunk. I couldn't lift you. You've been ... Well, you haven't been quite ..."**

**There were purple shadows under her brown eyes and Sophia noticed a small sponge in her hand: Hermione had been wiping her face.**

**"You've been ill," she finished. "Quite ill."**

**"How long ago did we leave?"**

**"Hours ago. It's nearly morning."**

**"And I've been... what, unconscious?"**

**"Not exactly," said Hermione uncomfortably. "You've been shouting and moaning and ... things," she added in a tone that made Sophia feel uneasy. What had she done? Screamed curses like Voldemort, cried like the baby in the crib?**

Ron squeezed Hermione tighter to him as she shuddered at that... he knew better than anyone what Sophia looked like during one of her episodes... it was just a few days ago after that Sophia had been trashing in her bed only to wake up to say Ron's dad was bitten by a snake... the very snake that Sophia had just faced. Still, he knew Sophia had to be worst after this... and how hard it would be on Hermione to watch that.

**"I couldn't get the Horcrux off you," Hermione said, and Sophia knew she wanted to change the subject. "It was stuck, stuck to your chest. You've got a mark; I'm sorry, I had to use a Severing Charm to get it away. The snake hit you too, but I've cleaned the wound and put some dittany on it ..."**

**She pulled the sweaty T-shirt she was wearing away from herself and looked down. There was a scarlet oval over her heart where the locket had burned her. She could also see the half healed puncture marks to her forearm.**

"As if you didn't have enough scars," George said shaking his head. "You have to go and collect more."

**"Where've you put the Horcrux?"**

**"In my bag. I think we should keep it off for a while."**

**She lay back on her pillows and looked into Hermione's pinched gray face.**

**"We shouldn't have gone to Godric's Hollow. It's my fault, it's all my fault. Hermione, I'm sorry."**

**"It's not your fault. I wanted to go too; I really thought Dumbledore might have left the sword there for you."**

**"Yeah, well ... we got that wrong, didn't we?"**

**"What happened, Sophia? What happened when she took you upstairs? Was the snake hiding somewhere? Did it just come out and kill her and attack you?"**

Everyone shivered at this line of questioning, because they could picture better than they like what really happened.

**"No." Sophia said. "She was the snake ... or the snake was her ... all along."**

**"W-what?"**

**She closed her eyes. She could still smell Bathilda's house on her; it made the whole thing horribly vivid.**

**"Bathilda must've been dead a while. The snake was ... was inside her. You-Know-Who put it there in Godric's Hollow, to wait. You were right. He knew I'd go back."**

"Hermione is always right," Fred said, "maybe you should remember that next time Mione and listen to yourself."

"I'll keep that in mind," Hermione said in a thick voice.

**"The snake was inside her?"**

**She opened her eyes again. Hermione looked revolted, nauseated.**

**"Remus said there would be magic we'd never imagined." Sophia said. "She didn't want to talk in front of you, because it was Parseltongue,**

"Oh..." someone said, though no one could see who it was exactly, evidently whoever that was didn't realize that.

**all Parseltongue, and I didn't realize, but of course I could understand her. Once we were up in the room, the snake sent a message to You-Know-Who, I heard it happen inside my head, I felt him get excited, he said to keep me there ... and then …"**

**She remembered the snake coming out of Bathilda's neck; Hermione did not need to know the details.**

"No... I really don't," Hermione grimaces.

"I wish you could have spared us all the details too," Charlie muttered.

**"...she changed, changed into the snake, and attacked."**

**She looked down at the puncture marks.**

**"It wasn't supposed to kill me, just keep me there till You-Know-Who came."**

"You know Potter, you would have been dead already if the Dark Lord didn't think he had to be the one to kill you," Draco observed. "That was rather foolish of him... to allow you to have so many opportunities to escape."

"Thanks Malfoy," Sophia said rolling her still red and teary eyes.

**If she had only managed to kill the snake, it would have been worth it, all of it ... Sick at heart, she sat up and threw back the covers.**

**"Sophia, no, I'm sure you ought to rest!"**

**"You're the one who needs sleep. No offense, but you look terrible. I'm fine. I'll keep watch for a while. Where's my wand?"**

**She did not answer, she merely looked at Sophia.**

Harry tensed, feeling a sense of foreboding.

**"Where's my wand, Hermione?"**

**She was biting her lip, and tears swam in her eyes.**

**"Sophia ..."**

**"Where's my wand?"**

**She reached down beside the bed and held it out to her.**

**The holly and phoenix wand was nearly severed in two.**

"No!" Sophia groaned, she couldn't imagine her wand being damaged like that... she couldn't imagine losing her wand.

**One fragile strand of phoenix feather kept both pieces hanging together. The wood had splintered apart completely. Sophia took it into her hands as though it was a living thing that had suffered a terrible injury. She could not think properly: Everything was a blur of panic and fear. Then she held out the wand to Hermione.**

**"Mend it. Please."**

"That's impossible, Sophia," Hermione said softly.

"Not impossible, but improvable," Dumbledore corrected.

"I don't understand... a wand that badly damaged can't be repaired," Hermione said, looking confused.

**"Sophia, I don't think, when it's broken like this -"**

**"Please, Hermione, try!"**

**"R-Reparo."**

**The dangling half of the wand resealed itself. Sophia held it up.**

**"Lumos!"**

**The wand sparked feebly, then went out. Sophia pointed it at Hermione.**

**"Expelliarmus!"**

**Hermione's wand gave a little jerk, but did not leave her hand. The feeble attempt at magic was too much for Sophia's wand, which split into two again. She stared at it, aghast, unable to take in what she was seeing ... the wand that had survived so much ...**

**"Sophia." Hermione whispered so quietly she could hardly hear her. "I'm so, so sorry. I think it was me. As we were leaving, you know, the snake was coming for us, and so I cast a Blasting Curse, and it rebounded everywhere, and it must have - must have hit -"**

"It's not your fault Hermione," Sophia said looking at her friend in the eyes and she sighed, obviously blaming herself.

**"It was an accident." said Sophia mechanically. She felt empty, stunned. "We'll - we'll find a way to repair it."**

**"Sophia, I don't think we're going to be able to," said Hermione, the ears trickling down her face. "Remember ... remember Ron?**

No one notice the smile on Dumbledore face at this sentence.

**When he broke his wand, crashing the car? It was never the same again, he had to get a new one."**

**Sophia thought of Ollivander, kidnapped and held hostage by Voldemort; of Gregorovitch, who was dead. How was she supposed to find herself a new wand?**

"Oh crap..." Sirius realized much too late. "You've only got one wand between the two of you..."

"We'll survive somehow," Sophia sighed, but things were starting to look really glum.

**"Well," she said, in a falsely matter-of-fact voice, "well, I'll just borrow yours for now, then. While I keep watch."**

**Her face glazed with tears, Hermione handed over her wand, and Sophia left her sitting beside her bed, desiring nothing more than to get away from her.**

"So you do blame me," Hermione sighed.

"Of course not," Sophia rolled her eyes, and got up from the spot she had been sitting in with Molly still holding her, and walked over to the couch with her friends, they moved to make room for her, and Sophia wrapped an arm around Hermione. "I just need some time by myself."

Hermione nodded her head in understanding.

"That was the end of the chapter," Draco said. "So, who's going to read now?"

"Er... I think it might do some good if we all take a break for a little while," McGonagall said, looking at the trio and Ginny on the couch and then Sirius and Remus in the corner of the room and Snape, who looked as miserable as he had just after the war had ended.

"That's a good idea," Molly said and that's what they did.

* * *

**Sirius will not die since he avoided his death in the 5th book. And does anybody want absolute Next Gen. Or can I tweak.**


End file.
